


Swimming Through Sick Lullabies

by TheShipofHope



Category: One Direction (Band), Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Anal Sex, Blow Job, Bottom Louis, Dark, Fighting, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mystery, Rimming, Smut, Supernatural Elements, Top Harry, Werewolf!Harry, Werewolves, mentions of eating disorders, starts with fluff but will get darker, teenwolf crossover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-16
Updated: 2016-02-22
Packaged: 2017-12-05 12:26:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 37,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/723298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheShipofHope/pseuds/TheShipofHope
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis has a normal student life, well as normal as possible with a beta in a werewolf pack as boyfriend. It changes when all of a sudden, a mysterious creature decides to enter their territory, terrorizing the village and playing with the werewolf pack. And what's up with all those head aches Louis gets? In between all the fuss and danger, Zayn finds the time to pine after Liam.</p><p>Or, the one where Harry is Louis' werewolf boyfriend and mysterious things tend to happen a lot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> Title from 'Mr Brightside' - The killers 
> 
>  

“What are we gonna watch this time?”

Louis batted his eyelashes at his boyfriend, forming a little pout with his lips. His puppy-look was fully turned on. In answer Harry groaned loudly, while trying to avert his gaze.

“Oh come on, Louis! Don’t give me that look. You know I can’t refuse you! Do you really want to watch ‘The Notebook’ again?”

“What?” Louis responded innocently, “I don’t know what you’re talking ‘bout?” His eyes blinked even slower this time, making sure that his eyelashes reached his cheeks before rising up once again. He extended his arm so he’d be able to reach Harry’s thy, softly drawing patterns on the jeans with his fingers, using all his charm in the attempt to wrap the taller lad around his finger.

”But if you insist, I don’t mind watching it once more.” A cheeky smile appeared when Louis looked up at his boyfriend, seeing the wall of refusal slowly crumbling down. With a last ‘please’ from Louis’ side, Harry groaned once more before finally giving in.

“Alright, alright! But next time I get to choose. Now put the film on, I’ll grab us a blanket.”

Louis made quick work of putting the disc into the player and turning the light off. With a loud ‘plof’ he jumped skilfully onto the couch. The lad tried to get as comfortable as possible underneath the blanket, letting his head rest on his boyfriend’s shoulder. In his turn, Harry put his arm around the shorter lad to pull him even closer. Cuddling was definitely one of the reasons why Louis enjoyed movie night so much.

Halfway through the film–Just about after the moment that Louis mouths the famous ‘if you’re a bird, I’m a bird’ quote along with Noah – Harry’s hand made his way to the chestnut coloured hair next to him and he started to run lightly through it with his fingers, brushing it tenderly.

  
It’s really nice, Louis thought, so he let his eyes close for a second to enjoy the moment even if his favourite film was playing in front of him. When he felt his chest getting a familiar, warm and fuzzy feeling, Louis sighed happily, cuddling even more into Harry’s side.

*

He didn’t know how it exactly happened, but he must’ve drifted to sleep somewhere around the fight of Noah and Allie. Louis got abruptly woken up by the sound of Harrys ringtone blasting into his ears, just as old Noah visited old Allie at the end of the movie. Trying to rub the sleep from his eyes, he looked questioning up at Harry.

“It’s Nick,” he got as answer, “I really have to take this.”

The curly haired lad gave him an apologetic smile, before pushing the ‘accept call’ button.

“What’s going on?” he answered the phone as he got up, letting the blanket drop off both of them. Louis instantly felt colder, deciding to get up too. After all with Harry gone and the film over, he didn’t really have a reason to stay either. Besides he could use a quick visit to the bathroom.

Louis yawned loudly, still sleepy despite his nap of almost an hour. He first wanted to turn of the DVD player, postponing the emptying of his bladder. After the fourth try, the machine finally spit out the disc, so he could put it away. Suddenly a pair of warm, comforting arms wrapped around his middle. A mouth found his ear shell.

“Sorry Lou, I have to go. Nick wants us all to come along. Apparently they’ve found a fresh trace leading to the woods. ”

The fringed haired boy swiftly turned around in between the strong arms of the werewolf, whom were still captivating him. He just wanted to answer him, but the moment Louis saw the sight in front of him, he couldn’t resist the temptation and decided to fill the gap between them with a soft kiss first.

“It’s fine. I’m actually still tired, so I would have sent you home early anyway.”

“Well, you could’ve let me stay of course.” Harry proposed, his doe-eyes looking hopefully downwards at the boy in front of him.

“ Maybe, but that doesn’t even matter anymo –”

Harry shut Louis up before he could finish his reasoning, connecting their lips more firmly than last time. Louis let the taller lad take control right away. He only winded his hands in the brown hair, tugging his fingers in the curls. Completely forgotten that he’d actually wanted to start a small argument, Louis rose up on his tip toes to get better access of Harry’s mouth, and just like all those other times they had made out, he couldn’t form any coherent thoughts in his head, except for how nice the feeling of Harry’s mouth against his felt.

A moment later Harry’s mouth left Louis’ one and slid down his jaw to find the junction where his neck met his chest, sucking and trying to create a little love bite just above his collarbone. Panting for breath, Louis felt the effects of the kiss in his groin so although his body obviously protested, he decided to push his boyfriend away from his neck before he would get carried away too much.

“I thought you had to get to Nick right away? You can’t really examine that trace with your dick in my mouth, can you? ‘Cause if we continue like this, that’s likely to happen” Louis gasped mischievously. Harry’s lips left his freshly turned red skin. His eyes were pointing innocently up at Louis, but his mouth was turned into a smirk.

“I was just leaving you a reminder, Lou. So you won’t forget who to dream about this night.”

Louis rolled his eyes in respond to the cheeky line, although the fond smile on his face gave away that he actually quite liked the sweetness. He took a step backwards so their chests weren’t pressed together any more, his fingers interlocking with other, longer ones. Harry sighed.

“Okay, you might be right about that. Although I’d rather spend the next of the evening with you, Nick’s going to be a bitch if I’m late again, so I’d better get going.”  
After a last soft peck on the lips to say goodbye, the werewolf took his jacket and walked out the door. Just as the door closes, Louis sputtered a soft “Be careful”, furrows appearing in his forehead.

Harry always told him it was stupid, but Louis couldn’t help but worry every time his boyfriend left for another ‘werewolf job’ as he called them. He knew that the guys could take care of each other, has even seen them multiple times in action before, but he also knew that they aren’t the only ones who know how to fight.

  
Louis kept watching the door for a couple more minutes, before the feeling of loneliness struck in. His smile faltered as he turned around, making his way to the bathroom. It was a quarter to ten in the evening and he could stay up longer, watching reruns of ‘How I met your mother’ on television.

He could. But with Harry gone, all he wanted to do is curl up under his sheets and let sleep take over to make the morning come sooner.  
At times like this, when duty called, Louis sort of wished he had a normal boyfriend, not a beta of a werewolf pack. That they lived in a world without any ‘supernatural’ bullshit, just like the normal people thought they did. It wasn’t like he didn’t loved Harry for being the way he is. No, not at all. He wouldn’t exchange the curly haired werewolf for anyone in the world. Most of the time Louis is very proud of him for taking such responsibilities and risks, but sometimes he was a little bit selfish.

Louis wanted to fall asleep in those strong arms every night without any last minute calls of Nick. He didn’t want to worry anymore that Harry could get hurt by other supernatural creatures or hunters, while trying to protect humans who weren’t even aware of the existence of werewolves. He wanted the taller lad to take him on a trip without having to make sure he could be present in case the alpha might need him. Louis just wanted Harry all for himself. No Nick or other pack member or some kind of ‘villain’ that could claim Harry, demanding him to leave Louis in a heartbeat if necessary.

The fringed haired lad knew it was a selfish thought and stupid to think, but sometimes he felt like he came second to Harry, right after the pack. And that hurt. He knew that saving someone from being killed by a vampire or keeping hostile lone wolves of their territory was more important than a cuddle session with his boyfriend, but it wasn’t that stupid to want it differently right?

Louis turned again in his bed, currently ending up on his back, looking up at the ceiling. He forcefully shut his eyes and commanded himself to stop thinking so pessimistic, placing lovely and endearing images of Harry in his mind instead.

Twenty minutes and a lot of happy memories later, he fell asleep with the image of their first kiss freshly visible beneath his eyelids.  
The boy slept heavily that night, vivid dreams clouding his mind. That could be the reason that he didn’t wake up when his mom came home around 12 O’ clock or when the sounds of a window getting opened, surged through his bedroom. He only mumbled a few incoherent words, before turning in his sleep.

*

Louis woke up even more tired than he had been when getting in his bed. At some point in the night those innocent dreams of elephants and yellow airplanes had disappeared and had made place for more intense nightmares, letting the boy endlessly toss and turn in his bed. The horrendous visuals had made him kick his sheets off, making him then shiver in cold. The crisp November air coming out of his open window, wasn’t doing Louis’ body temperature any good either.

The lad decided to get up, wanting to take a hot shower to let the memory of his nightmares flood away along with the water.  
When he arrived downstairs, his mother was just about to leave. After grabbing her keys, she quickly moved over to Louis, gathering him in a rushed hug. His mother had planned to leave right after, not liking to arrive even later at work, but as she saw the bags under Louis’ eyes, she couldn’t help asking about.

“Have you and Harry stayed up too late again?” she tutted, holding Louis at arm-length to take a better look at him.

“No, not at all. He even left early. I just didn’t sleep well,” Louis tried to comfort her. Convinced that her son was speaking the truth, his mother let the boy go, zipping her jacket up instead.

“Oh, okay. Well, don’t fall asleep in class then, Louis, wouldn’t want to get detention again.”

“Mum, that was one time,” Louis grumbled. He managed to get a bowl and some cereal out of the cupboard. The brown haired woman decided to drop the topic, but couldn’t help but place another peck on his forehead before she ran out of the door, leaving Louis alone once more again as his sisters were sleeping over at their aunt that night.

Looking out of the kitchen window, he became aware that it was raining cats and dogs outside. The rain had turned the sky a dull grey and had caused a multitude of muddy puddles scattered on the ground. Louis sighed. His day just kept getting better. After contemplating for a while to stay home, calling in sick, or walking through the huge amount of rain that was falling out of the sky, he decided to do the latter as he couldn’t afford it to miss yet another day of school this year.

Luckily just as he pulled his hoodie over his head, the doorbell rang. None other than Harry Styles himself was waiting on the doorstep as Louis opened the door when he saw Louis’ surprised face, he explained with an apologising but sincere smile.

“I ditched you yesterday, so I thought the least I could do is make sure you don’t get all wet at school. I know you never carry an umbrella with you.” He gestured to the object in his hand.

Harry’s reasoning didn’t really make sense, but the gesture was heart-warming to Louis, letting the corners of his mouth rise higher than they had done that morning. The shorter lad quickly grabbed his bag from underneath the staircase. Afterwards he shut the door behind him and tangled their fingers together.

The sound of the rain-drops on the fabric of the umbrella was soothing, making the silence between the two lads not awkward, but nice instead.  
The bus arrived early that day, so Harry and Louis had to run the last few yards. Water from shallow puddles was splashing everywhere as their feet hit the ground. Cheering that they still had managed to get in the bus on time, the two boys looked around for a place to sit as they welcomed the warmth of the heated bus.

Fortunately there were plenty empty seats as a lot of people probably had missed the early arrival of the vehicle. Still out of breath due to the running, Louis plopped down, pulling Harry along with him. And although Harry had brought an umbrella along, they’d still gotten wet because of their last minute run. The werewolf shook his curls, letting little droplets of water fly all around.

“Oh, come on Harry! You’re such a dog!” Louis jested, averting his face in an attempt to prevent him from getting wetter. Harry laughed at that but halted his action anyway. However he didn’t surrender completely, just changed his mode of attack;  
Because the moment that Louis averted his attention from Harry to the view outside, his boyfriend attacked by surprise. A sneaky poke in the ribs caused Louis to shriek loudly. With wide eyes he turned around, hoping no one had heard the embarrassing noise, all the time while Harry was almost dying of laughter.

Louis scolded. “You absolute tosser!” His hand playfully hit Harry’s thigh, causing another giggling sound from the curly haired boy.

“I’m sorry Lou,” he tried to utter, but his laughter prevented him. Louis tried to give him a dirty, angry look, but ended up looking like a pouting puppy, so Harry laughed even louder.

“Harry, stop it,” Louis tried to stay mad at his boyfriend, but seeing him cackling brought also a smile to his face. Not even a minute later he was giggling along with Harry.

*

As their laughter had died out, they fell back to another pleasant silence. Louis felt the feeling of tiredness come up again and laid his head down on Harry’s broad shoulder. He snuggled into the cosy fabric of the jumper underneath him and sniffed the scent up that only could be identified as purely Harry’s. A hand made its way to Louis’ head to pet his hair gently.

“I assume you didn’t dream about me like I told you to? Or did I give you a hard time in your dreams that you’re this tired?”

“No,” Louis breathed, “Just had some irritating nightmares.” He closed his eyes again, trying to get a little bit more rest. Harry continued the soothing hair striking.

“Poor boy, do you still remember them?”

“I don’t really know what they were like anymore,” Louis muttered, “Only remember flashes of green and yellow and some snakes.”

“Well,” Harry stated, “next time make sure to include me in your dreams. I’d chase all those nasty snakes away in a heartbeat.”

Louis sat up again, straightening his jumper.

  
“Sure, that is if you aren’t too busy with playing ‘Harry the werewolf, protecting the village of supernatural evil’ and leaving me all alone in a big, cold house.”  
His bottom lip fell down, creating a very convincing pout. If Harry hadn’t known Louis that good, he wouldn’t have noticed the teasing sound in his words, meaning that the fringed haired lad didn’t really hold grudges against the werewolf.

Harry groaned nonetheless, “That’s not fair Louis! You know Nick needed me to examine that trace and I have by far the best nose of all members of our pack.”

“Oh yeah, I’d almost forgotten the suspicious trace,” Louis recalled, dropping the previous topic as curiosity clouded his eyes. “How did that turn out?”

The way how Harry’s face almost immediately fell after Louis’ words didn’t predict any favourable news.

  
“It turned out to be a false alarm as it was fake,” he grumbled, “We’ve been looking for this creature for almost 3 months and we just can’t figure out how to catch it. It always manages to strike sneakily behind our backs and every time we think we can get him, it disappears again! It’s so frustrating that we don’t even know what it looks like. We don’t even know what it is! The scent is like nothing I’ve ever smelled before, but for some reason really familiar to me. Well, it has dangerous written all over it, that’s for sure.” Harry dropped his face in his hands as a sign of annoyance.

“I just don’t want anyone getting hurt anymore,” he ended his monologue like he surrendered, letting his vulnerable side take over. It was now Louis’ turn to comfort Harry, reversing the roles of just minutes ago. He gathered Harry in a hug, looking around to be certain that no one else had heard the outburst. After all, werewolves still were a mystery for 95% percent of the inhabitants of the village.

The new made hug described perfectly Harry and Louis’ relationship. Most of times it was Harry, with his muscular and tall body, who wanted to protect Louis’ petite frame 24/7, not letting any sign of danger come in his way. But at times like this, when the taller lad showed his own vulnerable side, it was obvious that Harry wasn’t the dominate person in their relationship at all. Louis could comfort him just as good as Harry could. It perfectly showed the equality of both partners.  
*  
Because the bus had been stuck in the traffic, they could already hear the ringing of the bell when the bus driver finally dropped the passengers off at school. Right before Harry and Louis were to part roads, the curly haired lad gave Louis a peck on the cheek and offered,

  
“So, I’ll see you at lunch?”

Louis bit his lower lip, not glad that he had to deny the offer, “I’m sorry. Zayn asked me to sit with him today ‘cause he’s new and doesn’t really know that much people yet.”

  
“Oh,” Harry’s eyes widened, not expecting that answer, then his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “But he can sit with us as well, you know? I don’t mind, and I don’t think the lads do either.”

  
“I offered too, but he’s kinda shy, I don’t think he would feel comfortable, I’m sorry,” after seeing the disappointment in Harry’s eyes as the boy in front of him put his hands in the pockets of his skin tight jeans and looked down to the ground, Louis started to play with the ropes of Harry’s jumper and added with a soft, hopeful smile, “But if you want, we can go to that ice cream place after school?”

The newly made offer back the dimples in the cheeks of the lad in front of him as he chuckled lowly, “Oh I remember last time we went there, don’t think they would like us to visit again this soon. They’re probably still trying to get the stains out of the ceiling.”

Louis laughed in return, “Okay, maybe not ice cream, but we can get to that quiet tea place where they have those biscuits you like?”  
“Sure,” Harry smirked, the happy memory still playing in his thoughts.

The two lads were silent after that, looking at each other with heart-eyes in their own love bubble. The sound of the second bell ringing and clarifying that they were already late for class, interrupted their moment and forced them to break apart to go to class.

 


	2. ll

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> kind of a filler, sorry
> 
> *
> 
> I'd rather run the other way than stay and see  
> The smoke and who's still standing when it clears
> 
> The Fray - over my head (cable car)

"Stop watching him, Zayn. You’re being a creep.”

Embarrassed, Zayn quickly looked back at his food. Louis eyed his reaction knowingly, “If you want him that much, just talk to him.”

Still keeping his head down, Zayn glared at his lunch. He started to tear off the edges of his nails and scoffed, “I wasn’t looking, Louis. And besides, you can’t just start to talk to someone like Liam Payne. Especially not someone like me!”

Louis took a bite of his sandwich and sassily rolled his eyes at Zayn, “Don’t be such a pussy. He would never reject or ignore you. Liam is actually a really nice lad. I even think you’d get on real well.” He swallowed, letting him talk clearer. “That is if you ever decide to grow some balls and finally talk to him.”

“What, you know him?”

“Of course, he’s friends with my boyfriend,” Louis turned around to take a look at the table that Zayn had been watching the whole time being, “In fact, Harry’s sitting with Liam right now.”

Harry saw him looking and gave a little wave as response, which Louis immediately returned. A beaming smile appeared on his face just from seeing his boyfriend. He turned his gaze back to Zayn, with eyes still full of hearts, and proposed, “If you want I could ask Harry to tell Liam about you? Like he could drop some hints, see if he’s interested.”

Zayn bit his lip sceptically, “I don’t know. It’s not like Liam would like me if he knew me. Maybe it’s better to dream about the things that could be, when he still has no idea of me, than knowing that he doesn’t like me and that I literally have no chance with him. Ignorance is a bliss, right?”

He received a slap on his arm from Louis for this. “Ouch! What did you do that for?” Zayn hissed, cocking his eyebrow in annoyance while rubbing his left arm.

“You were being stupid,” was Louis’ explanation. As he caught Zayn take another sneaky peek at Liam, his face again changing into its characteristic moody expression, Louis took it as cue to interfere.

“Zayn, look at me,” Louis tone had lost all its sass or playfulness. His honest eyes were carefully watching his raven haired friend. This was one of Louis’ best traits. Yes, he was very immature at times and often took jokes too far, but he also knew when it was the right time to be serious. It made him an honest and reliable friend who could be easily trusted. A trait that was hard to find these days.

“You’re bringing yourself down,” Louis started, but interrupted himself when he saw Zayn rolling his eyes at him.

“No, no, listen to me!” This did the trick, ‘cause he finally got Zayn’s full attention, “You’re much too hard on yourself. You are a very hot young man,” Zayn snorted unbelievingly as response.

“Zayn, let me speak! You have an amazing jaw line and amazing skin and amazing long eye lashes and if I wasn’t with Harry I’d totally tap that ass. You’re also very kind, honest and smart. You read all those deep books full of quotes and dumb comic books and you’re amazing at drawing. So, don’t bring yourself down like that ever again. You’re amazing and if Liam, by any miracle, doesn’t want you. It’ll be his loss, not yours,” when he ended his rant, he continued eating his food like nothing had happened.

Zayn opened his mouth, trying to speak up, but closed it again immediately after as he didn’t know quite what to say, making him look like a fish gasping for breath. A rose hue coloured his cheeks, making it clear that he wasn’t used to such compliments. But Louis wasn’t done yet.

“I mean. I thought that I wanting to be your friend was enough of indication that you were a top lad. After all, not just anyone gets the privilege of hanging with ‘the Tommo’ at school,” Louis tried to lighten the mood.

Zayn snorted as he heard Louis using the stupid nickname. Really, no one called him that. Louis just tried to let it stick, but he failed miserably in his attempts.

“But you are also my only friend here and I’m here for almost a month now. And we just became friends because you were forced to be my lab partner in chemistry so that doesn’t even count.”

“That’s just because you’re too shy,” Louis replied, “If you opened your mouth more, half the school would take an instant interest in you. And you have Niall too, right? He’s your friend too. He likes you.”

“Niall likes everyone,” Zayn interjected, “He wouldn’t care if I had three heads and he would still talk to me.” Zayn’s eyes showed confusion, as he wondered, “Wait, where is he actually? I haven’t seen him at school today.”

Louis shrugged, “Who knows what he’s up to all the time. It’s Niall. He will show up sooner or later. He always does, don’t worry.”

The blue eyed boy then took a peek at his phone to check the time as he had noticed that the canteen was getting empty. “It’s time to go,” he mentioned, stuffing the last part of his sandwich in his mouth as he started to get up, “Don’t want to miss chemistry, do we?”

“Of course not, lab partner,” Zayn answered as he too got up.

 

*

 

The last hour of school had just started and Louis was already bored out of his mind. He couldn’t care less about his teacher’s rant about the influence that the First World War had in the advance of science. He started to tap with his pen on his desk, but the lad immediately got irritated students facing his way, so he started to look out of the window, trying to find images in the clouds.

That’s a tea pot. If you turn that one a bit to the left it looks like a swimming elephant. Oh that one is definitely a wolf.

The last one, of course, instantly made him think of Harry. Louis really looked forward to their little date after school, which was another reason why he badly wanted to leave this classroom. He hoped that the two of them could be left alone for once and that their date wouldn’t end earlier than anticipated because of a bossy Nick needing Harry, like most of their other dates did.

Because after the umpteenth time, it started to get irritating, giving Louis the feeling that Nick almost did it on purpose.

Well sometimes, Louis did see a jealous glance in the alpha’s brown eyes when Louis and Harry were together. The logical part of his brain told him that it was probably just Nick looking out for his beta, like he protected every pack member, but the irrational side of Louis thought it was out of pure envy.  
This was also one of the main reasons why Louis wasn’t really fond of the tall lad, something he didn’t tell his boyfriend, of course. No, Harry just thought that Louis’ and Nick’s personalities clashed.

He sighed as the teacher ordered them all to copy the notes he had written on the whiteboard, but he took his pencil out nevertheless.

Just when he was about to finish his second sentence, a fierce pang of pain shot through his head. The sudden and intense headache, made him groan unwillingly and blurred his vision until black was all Louis could see. It felt more painful and intense than any headache he had ever had and even became to feel nauseating after a couple of seconds. But then it suddenly stopped.

The hurt left as abrupt as it had come. Louis got his vision back and the pain disappeared completely. Not even a dull throb was left.

The blue eyed boy looked frantically around him, but was soon reassured that no one had noticed anything. A perk of not having any of his closest friends in this class. He took a deep, relieved breath as he continued to copy the teacher’s writing, acting like nothing had happened. He brushed the short-lived headache off as an odd side-effect of his fatigue and didn’t really think about it anymore for the rest of the hour. As soon as the bell rung, the event completely vanished of his mind as he could finally leave this cramped room and meet Harry outside.

Louis rushed through the hallways, occasionally apologising as he ran down plenty of students. When he was finally outside, he could already see his curly haired lover standing at their usual spot, casually talking to Liam.

“Hi Hazza,” he greeted cheerfully as rose up on his tiptoes to give Harry a peck on the lips. “Hi Liam,” he added afterwards, while readjusting the strap of his back pack on his shoulder.

“Hi Louis,” he got back from Liam accompanied by a polite smile of the brunet, while Harry just curled his arm around his waist and pulled him closer to his side. “I should actually go,” Liam mentioned, after a quick glance at his watch. “Mum asked me to get groceries. See you later, lads!”

“Bye Liam,” Harry answered.

As soon as Liam was out of sight, Harry looked down to give Louis another brief kiss.

“Hi, I missed you,” he breathed, while letting his forehead rest on Louis’. The shorter boy couldn’t help but beam his ‘Harry smile’. The soft smile that was reserved for his boyfriend only, a smile full of tenderness, love and care. Because although they both hadn’t said those three little words yet, it was ‘bout to come real soon. After dating three months, they just had to find the right moment for their declaration of love.

“Missed you too,” Louis replied softly.

“Ready to go?” Harry asked, while taking hold of Louis’ hand to pull him along, caressing his knuckles absentmindedly with his thumb.

“Sure.”

 

*

 

Louis had just took a seat in the red couch when he saw Harry already coming his way, carrying two cups of tea and two chocolate biscuits in his hands, something Louis wouldn’t ever be able to do as his hands were only half as big as his boyfriend’s. He secretly liked it how his hands would drown in Harry’s as they held hands, but Louis was too proud to ever admit that.

Harry placed their order down, and dragged his chair back so he could take a seat too. He gave Louis his cup, who held it in his place in both hands and blew on his beverage to cool it off.

“How was your day?” Louis asked, initiating some small talk.

“Good. I’ve got an A on my test of calculus from last Friday, so yeah,” Harry took a bit of his biscuit, letting crumbs fly everywhere.

“My smart boyfriend,” Louis teased, which was rewarded by an eye-roll from Harry.

“What about you?”

“A bit uneventful. Didn’t even see Niall,” Louis nipped tentatively of his tea, checking if it was still too hot to drink, before he seemed to remember something, “Oh, Zayn did manage to set our table on fire in chemistry, so not that uneventful.” Louis laughed, shaking his head by the memory, “I still haven’t figured out how he did it.”

Harry laughed too, his mouth full of food. After swallowing the lump, something seemed to catch his mind. “You actually still haven’t introduced him to me.”

Louis shrugged, “It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s just that every time I see you both at school, Liam is standing next to you and Zayn has a crush on him so he wants to stay away as far as possible.”

Harry’s eyes widen, “Zayn has a thing for Liam? Liam Payne?”

“Yes, apparently they share some English class. He was smitten from day one,” he bit a small part of his biscuit off, before adding, “Oh, what I was bound to ask you. What’s Liam’s deal?”

“What do you mean,” Harry asked as confuse clouded his eyes.

“Like what team does he play for? Blokes, girls, both. Does Zayn stand a chance?” Louis explains.

“Oh! I don’t really know,” the curly haired werewolf answered honestly, “He was kind of dating that Danielle girl last year, but I’ve heard him talk about guys too, I think, so he might be bi. Just tell Zayn to give it a shot. Liam would never be rude about it.”

Louis pulled a face. “That’s easier said than done. I’ll never get Zayn to talk to him.”

“Just tell him tha–”

Harry was cut off by the loud ringing off his phone, which was lying on the side of their table. They both watched it ring for a moment. Eventually Harry looked up to Louis with pleading eyes saying, “It might be important?”

“Just take it,” Louis gave in.

“Hi Nick,” he heard Harry answer. Louis groaned in annoyance as his prayers from an hour ago obviously hadn’t been heard. Once again, they had been interrupted by Harry’s alfa.

“Okay, see you in a minute.” Harry put his phone back and looked apologetically at Louis.

“Nick thinks they have found the creature.”

“He thinks or he knows?” Louis irritated sassed back, but then immediately regretted his harsh answer, “I’m sorry, that wasn’t fair. I didn’t mean to let it come out like that. Well, good luck then,” he put a fake smile on as he watched Harry stuffing his mouth full with the remains of his biscuit.

“I’m really sorry, Lou,” he apologised again as he shrugged his jacket on, “I swear I’ll make it up to you!”

“Don’t worry about it. I still have a bunch of maths homework to do, so it’s actually convenient right?”

Harry hugged briefly and gave him a last kiss, “Take the bus home and don’t walk, alright? Don’t want you to get sick.”

“Yes, mom,” Louis joked, while pushing Harry off of him. “Now go! Your pack needs you.”

“I’ll call you,” Harry promised quickly before taking off.

As Louis was left alone once again, he brought his maths homework out and started to work on it. However he couldn’t keep his head with it, as his heart always demanded his thoughts to wander off, making him think about Harry, the boy he already missed although he has seen him only minutes ago. He knows that Harry’s beta duties are much more important than some tea, but it still stung.

His phone made a noise, indicating that Louis had received a text message.

_Wish I was still with u, miss you.x_

It was from Harry. The thought that the curly haired boy would rather be with him too, made Louis feel slightly better. He quickly texted back that he missed him too and then forced himself to concentrate on the questions about matrices.

Stupid maths. Stupid Nick.

 

 

 


	3. lll

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> pretty much some smut, some angst, a bit of fluff and some dialogue
> 
> *
> 
> And I do believe it’s true  
> That there are roads left in both of our shoes  
> But if the silence takes you  
> Then I hope it takes me too
> 
> Death cab for cutie - Soul meets body

Finally done with brushing his teeth, Louis spit the remaining mix of toothpaste and spit in the sink. The noise sounded much louder than it would have at day time, as the house was all quiet, his siblings and mother had already gone to bed more than an hour ago. Louis quickly put some boxers and a shirt on before tiptoeing to his room, trying not to wake anyone up. He grabbed his IPod, but just when he was about to put his headphone on, the phone on his desk beeped, indicating that he had gotten a text.

  
  _Look outside, love (: .xx_

Smiling, Louis shook his head at the phone in his hand. He walked over to his window and opened the curtains to take a peek outside. There, on the grassy ground, stood a tall, curly haired boy, leaning against a relative small oak tree that was planted in front of Louis’ house. The lad sheepishly grinned as he noticed the blue eyed boy’s presence behind the glass and gave him a little wave as greeting, making Louis grin like a foul. Afterwards Harry took his phone back out, starting to frantically type on it.

Louis’ phone once again made a little beeping sound.

  
  _Open the window! please.x_

Louis smiled endeared. Typical of Harry to demand something, but still add a polite ‘please’ to it afterwards, never wanting to sound rude. It made it hard for Louis to ever refuse the lad something, but luckily Harry never abused that said ‘power’.

When the window was finally opened wide, Louis noticed that the boy he was so fond of didn’t stand on the same spot anymore, instead he was agile climbing the oak tree, quickly moving over the branches and making his way to Louis’ bedroom.

“Harry, what do you think you’re doing? I don’t care that you think you’re some bad-ass werewolf, you’re gonna fall!” Louis hissed, worry seeping through his words.

But a moment later, the green eyed boy hopped over the window sill, landing gracefully with a simple thumb on the parquet floor. The two of them quietened for a bit, pricking up their ears. As no sign of movement around them could be sensed, a lunatic grin spread over Harry’s face, while Louis just rolled his eyes at the childish behaviour of his boyfriend.

“Hi,” the taller one whispered down at Louis while he moved a bit closer.

“Hi,” Louis smiled.

The curly haired boy nuzzled his head in Louis’ neck, trying to rescent him and get all the smell of other people away. He wanted Louis to smell like him again. After rubbing his jaw against Louis’ for a couple of times, he felt that that was enough for now and back off again to speak to him.

“I know I said that I would just ring you, but the thing with Nick had been a false alarm. The pups apparently don’t know the difference between the smell of a fox and a murdering creature,” Harry huffed, obviously irritated by his young pack members' mistake. He then lifted his right hand to lightly trace a line from Louis’ cheekbone to his jaw and back.

“So yeah,” he breathed, “here I am to make it up to you.”

The tender touch on his cheek made Louis lightheaded to the way it even got difficult to form coherent sentences. Harry could already smell the arousal coming in waves off of him.

“Oh,” he sassily cocked his eyebrow, but his voice lacked cockiness, sounding much weaker than intended, “And how did you plan doing so?”

Not a moment later, Louis felt Harry’s soft lips pressed on his own, shutting him up. The kiss was sweet and light, giving him a taste of it but nothing more. Too soon Harry broke the contact to cheekily whisper in his ear.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

The werewolf reconnected their mouths, kissing more passionately than before and he carefully led the two of them to Louis’ bed, situated in the corner of the room. Harry slowly let the boy down on the duvet and crawled onto him. After detached his mouth to give a last kiss on the corner of Louis’ lips, he started to plant sloppy kisses down to his throat, making his way to Louis’ sinful collar bones, occasionally sucking lightly and using his teeth to form love bites. It let the boy underneath him utter the most delicious sounds he had ever heard.

Large hands were trailing down the smaller lad’s back and tugging at his shirt. Harry then motioned him to lift his arms so he could take the fabric off, immediately after, he disposed himself of his own shirt too. When they were both shirtless and finally able to feel each other’s skin, Harry went back to kissing him, licking into the older boy’s mouth and biting on his rose, lower lip. Not hard enough to draw blood, but enough for Louis to moan quietly at the pain, turned on by the curly haired boy’s dominance.

Harry took hold of Louis’ left nipple to brush over it with his fingers, tugging at it, while his other hand was slowly making its way to the edge of Louis’ boxers. He rubbed his thumb smoothly against his hips, making Louis go crazy of arousal.

“H- Harry,” Louis sputtered, “ _please_.”

“Please what?” Harry muttered as he finally cupped the clothed bulge. Louis only bit his lower lip harder, trying to hold his moans back, much to Harry’s displeasure. “Don’t keep those beautiful sounds from me, Lou,” he breathed and moved his hand to rub over the hardened length, empowering his words.

Louis answered by moaning, moving his hips sinfully against the hand, wordlessly asking for more, so he must have agreed.

“Then stop teasing and do something,” Louis eventually panted.

Harry looked up at him through long eyelashes before finally, moving the waistband to release the throbbing length. As soon as it bobbed free, Harry had a hand on the base of his cock. He stroke it a couple of times, flicking his wrist every now and then. His tongue peeked out to lick a stripe along the shaft. While still watching Louis’ reaction - who was now a delicious moaning mess - he took the head in his mouth to suck on it gently, dipping his tongue into the slit.

“St-stop tea- sing.”

Harry grinned at him with the hard cock still in between his lips. Suddenly he took in as much as he could, bobbing his head up and down with practiced ease so that nearly all of Louis’ length fitted in his mouth, the big, heavy length feeling heavenly on his tongue, filling his entire mouth and sometimes touching the end of his throat. The boy underneath him gasped loudly, with clenched eyes Louis was holding tightly on the headboard, trying the best he could not to let his hips buck up.

He couldn’t help himself anymore, when he felt Harry’s nose touching his stomach, having taken the whole length in his mouth. He groaned loudly and his hips lifted up, making Harry gag for a bit. The curly haired boy then pulled off with an obscene pop. A string of saliva still connected his puffy lips with the head of Louis’ cock.

“Lou,” he breathed, “Want you to fuck my face,” his eyes almost black of arousal and lips red and glossy of the spit and precome. “Please,” he added, obvious desperation sounding through his voice, “Can you do that for me?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” Louis answered quickly, how could he ever deny the boy something if he was asking it this polite? “ _fuck_ Haz.”

Harry’s mouth was immediately back, hovering over his cock, hanging open like an invite for Louis to trust up, an action he instantly did, giving in to the sinful temptation. He shoved his cock in the moist heat. Harry gagged again, his eyes watering of the full feeling, but he clearly enjoyed taking it all in again, loving the heavy weight. As Louis continued to trust, Harry too moaned loudly, sending vibrations through the shaft so Louis almost lost it that moment.

As he continued to suck the hot flesh, his right hand guided Louis’ hips while his left made his way into his own pants, finding his too hard shaft. He started to stroke it furiously, chasing down his own orgasm, jerking off hard and fast.

With a desperate cry of “ _Harry_ ”, Louis’ hips stuttered, letting him come down in hot spurts of new come in his boyfriend’s throat. Harry swallowed all of the hot, white liquid, moaning loudly as he too came, spurting in his pants, making them wet and soaked.

Louis lied down on the bed, panting and coming down from his high, while Harry disposed himself of his dirty pants, getting up to take some fresh underwear from Louis. Afterwards he plopped down on the bed again, moving Louis as well as himself under the duvet. He casually draped one arm over the waist of the blue eyed boy as the two of them tangled their legs together.

“So that was what you meant by making it up to me.” Louis muttered sleepily, cuddling deeper into the werewolf’s one armed embrace.

“Did I manage?” Harry asked cheekily, pulling him even closer so he could whisper it in his ear.

“Quite,” Was the answer. Louis yawned, his body tired. Just before he fell asleep he murmured, “B’t, you’ve gotta be gone in the morning, b’fore me mum sees you.”

Harry chuckled at that, kissing his forehead lightly, “I know, love. I’ll be gone at dawn. Not leaving a trace.” Louis didn’t hear even half of it as he was already asleep, long eyelashes resting on his own cheek and head on Harry’s shoulder.

 

*

 

Moving became even more difficult with every breath he took, darkness clinging to his limbs, tugging and preventing him from doing anything, making him powerless. And every second that feeling grew stronger. It got hard to breath. The dark pressed down on him, crawling around his body like tentacles made of fog, slipping in his throat as he tried to scream.

Then suddenly Louis noticed large eyelids in front of him, slowly opening to reveal venom coloured eyes. They gradually moved forward, coming closer and closer. Greedily, they stared at him, seeming like they knew all the answers, but would never bother to give anything away.

Closer. Too close.

A yellowish green mist took over Louis’ vision, growing thicker and thicker, suffocating him until he fell down on his knees. He couldn’t even feel if there was a floor he landed on. His consciousness eventually slipped away, but the vicious colour an image bright in his mind. Taking over all his other senses.

“ _Soon,_ ” was growled from a distance, echoing until it faded away into the deep dark.

 

*

 

“Louis! Lou!”

Louis’ eyes spread wide open, as he finally woke up from his recent nightmare. He gasped for air, adrenaline rushing through his veins as his dilated pupils were frantically moving in different directions, not managing to focus on his surroundings. His mind tricked that he still found himself in the setting of the nightmare, made his arm claw at his chest as he tried to breathe, tried to clear his lungs of the thick fag that he thought had settled there.

“Louis, love. Calm down,” Harry tried to soothe the blue eyed boy, gently taking hold of his shoulders and wiping the lost tears that had managed to break free from his cheeks. But unfortunately the gesture caused Louis to panic even more as he didn’t recognize Harry yet.

Not knowing what to do else, the werewolf turned the lights on, hoping that it would get Louis out of the illusion that he still experienced his nightmare.

It worked.

As the realization that he was in fact safely lying in his warm bed and not covered in darkness started to seep in, Louis¢ arms stilled and his eyes finally focused, but his breath wasn’t steady yet. With the scent of fear coming in tsunamis off of him, the boy looked like a lost puppy. A sight that almost broke Harry’s heart. The curly haired boy came back to the bed as soon as possible, but not too fast to not startle Louis, and gathered him in a warm embrace, rubbing his back as he whispered soothing words in the chestnut coloured hair.

“It was just a nightmare, Lou. It’s over. Don’t worry, love, nothing’s going to hurt you.”

Louis accepted the hug, lightly taking hold of his boyfriend’s shoulders to steady himself, letting small hiccups every once in a while. The two of them sat like that on the bed, Louis’ head buried in the other boys shoulder and Harry’s cheek resting on his hair, until Louis had calmed down enough.

“Are you alright?” Harry asked tentatively, brushing Louis’ fringe out of his red rimmed eyes.

“Yes, sure,” he breathed with trembling voice and tried to smile, “It was just an embarrassing nightmare. Sorry to bother you.”

“It doesn’t bother me, Louis. And having a nightmare is definitely not embarrassing”, he scolded, “But I’m glad you’re fine again. Do you want to talk about it?”

Louis’ teeth took hold of his lip. “It was just a nightmare, nothing to talk about. You know how they can get. Just my mind doing some weird stuff.”

“Yes, but it seemed quite an intense one. Sure you don’t want to tell me what it was about?”

“I don’t even remember it that well anymore,” Louis shrugged, “So don’t worry, I’m fine again.” Harry kept giving him wary looks, his eyes reflecting his concern and worry as he stared at Louis. Not sure if he should believe him or if this was just one of those times that Louis was acting like everything was alright, when in fact things weren’t alright.

“Let’s just go to sleep,” Louis said, not so subtly changing the subject to end their discussion, “I’m tired.” He yawned.

“Alright,” Harry answered, giving up after once more contemplating his options, and he lifted the duvet so they could crawl underneath again.

“Sweet dreams,” Louis breathed and extended to give his boyfriend a chaste peck on the lips.

“Yes, _sweet_ dreams, Louis.”

Harry pressed him closer to his body, this way trying to protect him from any other angsty dreams. Because, although he knew that the gesture couldn’t prevent them from coming, it made him feel better for having the boy against his chest, it made him feel a tad bit less powerlessness. It took a long time before they were finally asleep again.

 

*

 

The next morning, when his alarm finally woke Louis up after a second, dreamless sleep, the curly haired boy was already gone but his scent still lingered in the room. Before getting up, Louis buried his head in the pillow, taking in Harry’s odour with closed eyes and he smiled at the feeling. While making himself ready for school, he did everything he could to prevent himself of thinking of the nightmare again, just trying to ignore the memory.

 

*

 

“... and Liam could use someone too, actually. Since he got bitten, he’s only ever thinking about his grades and sports. He needs some distraction from all the pack stuff and drama. So Zayn would be great for him, don’t you think? He could like ground him, or something.” Louis ended his monologue with a defiance nod, while scribbling some more words on the paper in front of him. He then tilted his head and looked expecting up at Niall, waiting for confirmation.

The two of them were sitting in class, but most of the time their biology teacher didn’t ever pay attention on his students, so they could easily get away with talking during lessons without getting detention.

“yeah, I guess I can see where you come from,” the blond boy answered, “Liam could use someone and he and Zayn would make a cute couple. Plus, Liam once told me that he was really into dark, mesmerizing brown eyes and tan skin, I mean you remember Danielle right? So it could definitely work.”

Louis perked up after Niall’s answer. “See what I told you. They’re just perfect for each other! We should really get them together. Harry has already told me that he’ll help too.”

Niall snorted at his friend’s childish enthusiasm. “Sure, Cupid. What’s your plan?”

Louis’ face faltered as he hadn’t really thought about that vital part of his plan yet. “I don’t really know yet. Do you have any suggestions?”

“Well,” Niall started, “We can just hang out like a group. Invite them both and Harry too, so we can hang out all together and they can get to know each other. This way Zayn won’t be so insecure ’cause he’ll be surrounded by people he knows.”

Louis’ eyes widened at the simplicity but perfection of the plan, scolding him for not thinking of such thing himself. “Yes, excellent!” he cheered. “So, let’s say this Friday? Who should we invite?”

“Me, you, Liam, Zayn, Harry, maybe Josh too if he’s up for it. I don’t know. What do you think?”

“But you’re all pack,” Louis reasoned, “Won’t it be weird to have Zayn as the only one who doesn’t know about you guys? Everyone will have to pay attention all the time to not let anything slip.”

“It’ll be fine,” Niall guaranteed him, “Don’t underestimate us. We know what we’re doing.”

“Okay, I’ll ask Harry if we can order pizza and watch movies at his house. I think he has mentioned that his mother will be out Friday,” Louis pondered

“Alright, then I’ll make sure Nick won’t interrupt us. He should be able to manage a night without the four of us.”

“He sure works you guys hard enough. Harry has barely any free time left, so I can imagine you want a day off yourself too,” Louis agreed, “Actually how’s the search going? Any progress in finding the beast?”

“No,” Niall admitted doleful, “We actually haven’t ’heard’ of it for a couple of days. We have only found nothing but fake traces since then, but I doubt it has fled to leave us alone. I’m thinking that it’s planning something. Something bad.”

“I’m sure it’s gonna be alright. You’re way too negative about this shit. Where’s the carefree mofo that I used to know?” Louis teased.

Niall chuckled dryly, “Maybe you’re right. It just sucks that we don’t even know what were handling. Its scent is completely new. We have never smelled something like that before. Well, except for Harry who claims that its scent is kind of familiar to him, but then it sucks even more that he can’t place it. So that just gives us even more unanswered questions.” The blond werewolf growled in frustration, quiet enough that only Louis could hear him.

“Niall, it’s gonna be okay.” Louis patted his shoulder with soothing movements, “You’ve dealt with way harder stuff than just one annoying creature. I mean you have defeated a whole pack of rogues last year? And have you forgotten about that nasty witch already? In a month or less this situation will be over, so don’t panic. At least it hasn’t killed anyone yet, right? It’s just an annoying arsehole.”

“But who knows what it’s going to do next? Maybe it’s planning on killing people. That’s the thing, we don’t know nothing about it.” Niall implied, his eyes glowing yellow out of frustration.

“You can worry about that if it happens, but for now on just forget about it and look for new ways to get Zayn and Liam together.” A cheeky smile appeared on Louis’ face, trying to calm the boy down with his humour.

A little bit amused, Niall rolled his eyes at him. He wanted to argue with the blue eyed boy, but the ringing sound of the school bell prevented him from doing so, indicating that class was finally over.

“Fine Lou,” he gave in, “I’ll try and stop worrying about it. Now you go and ask Zayn if he’s free Friday and I’ll do the same with Liam. After all we have a plan to stick to.”

Louis gave him a pleasing nod. A moment later, he winked for the last time, before quickly taking off to his next class so he can ask the raven haired boy as soon as possible. While trashing to his next classroom, he tried to think of other methods to let Zayn talk to Liam so they could get to know each other better.

After all, he and Niall had a plan to stick to!

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sexy times, a bit? Its my first time writing them, so please leave me some feedback?  
> Oh and I know this story is kinda leading towards top!Harry, but I was thinking that it would be kinda hot if Louis would top? no? for the first time only? or? or second time?


	4. lV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lad's night, some fluff and, of course, lot's of angst

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you understand who I am  
> Do you wanna know  
> Can you really see through me now  
> I am about to go
> 
> Just tonight - The Pretty Reckless
> 
> *  
> 

It was a cloudy Friday evening and five teenage boys were watching 'The Ring' on the plasma TV in Harry's living room. The curly haired lad himself seated next to Louis, who was in his turn practically lying on the first ones lap, then Zayn placed next to them, a bit flustered out of shyness and nerves, seeming like he thought he didn't belong there, but still captivated by the film playing in front of him, and finally Liam at the end, attentively watching, sitting next to Zayn in a way that there was just enough space for their thighs to not touch but not that it looked like they wanted to be as far away from each other as possible.

As there wasn't any spot left for the fifth lad, Niall had decided to sit in front if the couch so he could reach the snacks and drinks more easily, every once in a while passing a bag or can of beer to one of the others. The scene looked like a typical guy’s night.

*

Louis had been the first one to arrive at the Styles residence that evening, almost an hour earlier than the others so he could help Harry prepare (which meant ten minutes of choosing the right flavour of crisps - ending up deciding that they wanted all three of them - and the rest of the time shamelessly making out) The two of them had just finished cleaning themselves a bit up so they could without embarrassment face their friends, as someone rang the doorbell.

Louis was the one to open the front door, revealing his raven haired friend standing uncomfortable on the doorstep. He saw Zayn's nerves subdue as soon as the lad took notice of Louis' lopsided grin, welcoming him inside the cosy house.

"Come in," he ordered, immediately turning around again after beckoning Zayn to follow him in, "Harry's getting the beer out if the fridge. Oh, you can hang your jacket in there." He pointed at a closet.

Zayn walked inside, instantly spotting Louis' boyfriend whom he had heard so many things about, but had in the month that he already attended, had never properly met.

"Hello," Zayn nodded at the taller lad.

"Hi," Harry smiled back and extended his arm to pat the raven haired lad on the back, "Nice to finally talk to you. Lou has told me all about you."

Zayn grinned back, returning the one sided hug. "I bet he's told me much more about you."

Harry pretended to glare at his boyfriend, but the sparkles in his eyes gave away the fondness he felt for the smaller boy. "Don't even believe anything of what he says. Louis can talk some shit sometimes," Harry winked, cheekily looking at the smaller lad.

"You surely do have a point," Zayn laughed, "I don't even grasp half of what he usually says."

"Okay, cut the _ma_ _ke fun of Louis-_ time" the blue eyed boy scowled, dragging a grinning Harry away from his other friend, trying to break up their chatting, "We have a movie night to attend."

He loved that his boyfriend and one of his best friends were getting along, but seriously, couldn't they find another topic to bond over than making fun of him?

"But love, the others aren't even here yet," The curly haired werewolf reasoned, then added with an evil glint in his eyes, "So in the meantime we can gossip about you all that we want."

Louis pouted.

Lucky for him the doorbell took that moment as a cue to ring for the third time that evening.

"I'll get it," Harry stated while letting Louis tag along, leaving Zayn to stand all by himself in the living room.

"Come in," Zayn heard Louis shout, quickly followed by a "M&m's! Thanks Niall. I knew I could count on you." Then there was some too quiet to hear talking as no one spoke as loud as Louis.

When the boys came back to the living room, Zayn noticed there had been not one, but two new arrivals. The sight of a brown haired lad brought immediate heat to his cheeks and he mentally cursed Louis, who had been obviously the brain of the plan of inviting Liam as no one else knew of his crush on the lad. Well, at least that was what Zayn thought.

He averted his gaze, definitely not wanting to be caught staring, and uttered a small 'hi' to welcome the two lads when they too caught eye of him. Niall immediately took him in a big hug, squeezing tightly while he greeted him with his loud, enthusiastic voice. Liam just extended his hand to shake Zayn's and said a simple 'Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Liam.' He was just that of a nice and polite boy. Zayn answered by just telling him his own first name, too shy and flustered for anything else. So that was that. 'Ziam' had met and part one of Louis' master plan done.

As a semi-awkward silence struck the room, Louis decided to speak up again, "So what film are we gonna watch?"

"Do you have batman, maybe?" Zayn questioned tentatively.

Liam's eyes instantly lit up, "You like Batman? Me too! Finally someone with good taste." He cheered, giving the tanned a full on beam, showing off his white teeth.

"But I brought 'The Ring' with me," Niall intervened, "It has been ages since we've seen something that's even close to horror."

They ended up voting. Liam and Zayn obviously chose Batman, while the other three wanted to see The Ring as according to Harry, Liam had already forced them too many times before to watch the first one. (Louis couldn't help but being fond of the fact that Harry still wants to watch The Notebook with him, even though they've seen it so much more than Batman.)

Louis looked fondly at Liam and Zayn, watching them both in their own way enthuse about the black superhero, as they carefully let their walls down a bit, while Niall put the disc in the DVD player, letting the movie night finally really begin.

*

Louis had his head rested on Harry's lap. The taller lad was running his fingers through the chestnut coloured hair, every once in a while twirling around a hair lock. (Niall had already called them out for acting 'too fecking cute' which has only made Harry beam in his direction)

The blue eyed boy closed his eyes for a bit as he was not that into the film and he hoped that trying to shut the lights out would decrease his headache. Afterwards he tried to block out all his other senses as well, only concentrating on the soothing movement of his boyfriend's fingers.

The irritating head-aches had come up more frequently that week. Sometimes hurting for hours, other times just a short peak of white pain, occasionally accompanied by dizziness. Louis decided not to really think about it, because thinking about it would turn it into a real problem and if there was a real problem, he would have to share it. He just didn't quite feel like telling Harry or his mother as they both had already too many problems to deal with on their own. Besides, they were just innocent headaches, no major illnesses, so no need for anyone to worry. It wasn't a big deal.

(There were times at night when Louis couldn't sleep because of it and he would think that if the headaches really were caused by a life-threatening disease, he'd prefer not to know about it, so if he didn't tell anyone, no one would send him to the doctor.)

Louis squeezed his eyes shut as the pain suddenly increased, making him even a bit nauseous. Unlike other times, the immediate pain didn't subdue after a while, but kept ponding in his head at the same force as a chainsaw. The sickening smell of nacho cheese was also not really helping to get rid of his nausea.

He decided to get up and flee to the bathroom, hoping that a change of scenery could help. Or if it was absolutely necessary, he could throw up in the toilet without anyone noticing: There would be no mess and he could easily brush his teeth. Really, he had thought it all through. With a whispered 'I have to pee' and a pat on Harry's thy, the werewolf let him out of their embrace to let Louis get up. Harry averted his gaze from the TV to give him a soft smile, before instantly looking back, entranced by the horrendous story.

The lad quickly made his way to the bathroom, hoping everybody would be too occupied by the film to notice anything unusual about Louis. Lucky for him he practically knew the way to Harry's bathroom by heart thanks to the many hours he'd already spend with him in his house, because otherwise he would have certainly hit a wall as he had still squinted his eyes close, protecting them from the lights.

Hoping that fresh water would help him, he walked to the washbasin, opening the tap. The boy cupped his hands to capture some of the flooding liquid to throw it on his face. Unfortunately the cold liquid didn't help at all. He felt even worse. His nausea got to the point that he almost had to puke, stomach making saltos in his belly while an even hotter pain flared in his head, painting his vision bright white and letting his ears tingling.

Then everything changed as the complete opposite happened. All there currently was left was black. Hearing gone. Vision. gone.

The last thing to finally leave was his conscious.

If anyone would've been standing in the same room or looking through the window, they would've seen him pass out and fall to the ground.

*

thumb

thumb

A light knocking was the first thing he heard.

"Lou? You still in there?"

Louis blinked a couple of times, taking notice of his situation. Flexing his arms to test his muscles out, he tried to remember how he ended up on the floor. Wait, did he just pass out? Frantically turning his head in several directions trying to take his surroundings in, he started to panic. In a wimp he got up. Huh? When did he even get in Harry's house?

"Louis, open up. It's just me."

Harry's voice dragged him out of his bubble of thoughts. As he squeezed his eyes shut, he tried to get his breathing under control again, wanting to be able to speak up with a steady voice, but still al what got out was a squeaky, "I'm fine."

The door handle bended down, signalling the arrival of the werewolf. Louis looked up at Harry, noticing the taller lad take in his own flustered state of dark rose cheeks, heavy breathing and thumping heart.

An amused smirk appeared on Harry's face, but his eyes showed nothing but concern, "Louis, were you scared of the film?"

"I- I wasn't..." He dazedly bit his lip. A film? Oh! He remembered, they were having a movie night at Harry's and he had at some point fled to the bathroom. Well, at least my head ache is gone, Louis reasoned.

"It's okay Lou, I can smell the fear off of you. Your heart's going crazy." Harry comforted, "It's nothing to be ashamed off." He moved closer to gather Louis in a hug.

So Harry thought he was just scared because of the movie. That that was the reason why he had left and stayed in the bathroom probably longer than necessary. Louis contemplated his next move for a bit.

"Yeah. It's just, that girl is so fucking creepy and like I know our phone hasn't rung and that those things aren't real, but if I'd stayed longer, I would surely get nightmares about it," he ended up rambling, returning the hug by burying his head into the taller ones shoulder, nuzzling his neck.

Fuck, he felt bad about lying to Harry. It was the first time ever he had used his -rather excellent, if he said so himself- acting skills against his boyfriend to tell him such a blatant lie. He could already feel the regret and guilt crawling over his bones like little ants, but what should he have done?

If he had told Harry the truth, the curly haired boy would be taken over by worry and concern. He would completely blow up the situation and drag Louis to every hospital in the neighbourhood, never leaving his side, abandoning all his other duties. Really, the boy had already too much to think of, trying to get good grades and protecting the village at the same time. He surely didn't need a Louis-situation that was probably only caused by fatigue or paranoia.

Yes, Louis would just take care of himself the next days: eating healthier and trying to get at least eight hours of sleep each night. Everything would be just fine again by the end of next week.

The feeling of Harry's lips pressing lightly on his hair, brought him back out if his inner monologue.

"You know, I know of a good way for you to forget about the movie," Harry spoke up, a cheeky tone ornating his voice, "The others have probably noticed already that we're gone for this long, so it wouldn't really matter if stretch it out a tad bit longer."

"What do you mean?"

Louis didn't get a verbal reply, instead he felt a light pressure now on his lips. At first he returned the kiss, but broke it off almost immediately.

"Don't you wanna know the ending of the film? It seemed like you were rather enjoying it earlier."

"I enjoy kissing you more," Harry responded before reconnecting their mouths and carefully pushing Louis backwards to the wall.

They made out for a while, returning just in time to the living room to see the last scene. None of the other boys mentioned their absence, instead Niall just asked if they could put Fifa on. So they played electronic football for the rest of the night.

*

Louis yawned loudly after just having said goodbye to Zayn, giving him a last wave before he too went back home.

“You staying over?” Harry asked, eyes dark of arousal.

“No, ‘m sorry. My dad’s coming back from business trip tomorrow morning. He forces us to have brunch in the morning with my aunt, so were playing happy family for half a day until he leaves again for work.” Louis pulled a face.

He shuts off every answer Harry possibly could have had by starting another heated snog session. Harry just took it, letting Louis completely dominate him this time. The blue eyed boy eventually ended it, kissing Harry for one more time on the lips, hugging him afterwards.

“I’ll text you tomorrow,” he promised, opening the door while saying so. Louis looked over his shoulder for the last time, very tempted by saying those three important words. He even thought seeing the same temptation on Harry’s face.

But he closed the door before any of them could speak again, telling himself that it was not yet the right time. He wasn’t ready yet to take that chance as it meant he could never call what they had something casual anymore. Love was big. Very big. And he just didn’t know if he was ready for that yet.

Hell, he didn’t even know if love even existed. If that was called what he was feeling, what he had with Harry. How could he know this wasn’t just a temporary infatuation. Made to get broken. For all he knew, the concept of love could just be invented by hopelessly naïve, romantic and hopeful people. Dreaming of their soul mate.

So, if Louis didn’t even know what love was, if it existed, how the hell in the world could he ever tell Harry those three words? His boyfriend deserved to get the truth only.

*

Aside from accidentally breaking down the toaster as he had tried to make a grilled cheese sandwich Saturday evening (note to future self: do NOT put cheese in a toaster if you don’t like fire), Louis’ weekend was rather uneventful.

Saturday morning Louis spent his time listening to his dad bragging on and on about his trip to Berlin, before he once again fled to his office probably having had enough family bonding time for the rest of the week or even month. Afterwards he hid in his room, trying to avoid his mother complaining for the millionth time about how his work was the only thing their father could think of, and that she had to do everything in the household. He procrastinated a bit on tumblr, reblogging countless fandom posts, and finally caught up on the latest episodes of Teenwolf and Supernatural, going way too late to bed.

The day after went by in a blur. At first, the blue eyed lad tried to get some homework done, not wanting his grades to drop, but as soon as his sisters begged him to take them out, he took them to the park to get ice cream, craving some cookie dough himself, and helped the twins feed the ducks.

And that was that. Two days of fantastic spare time, no school classes, had rushed by like a Porsche on the highway.

*

Monday morning, Louis woke up with a grunt, even more tired than when he had gone to sleep the day before, with memories of recent, horrendous nightmare still playing in the back of his mind. After a moment of rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he felt like something was missing. It was quiet in the house. Too quite. No sounds of sisters getting ready for school, fighting for the bathroom. Hmm, suspicious…

Louis got up and glanced at his phone only to see that it had died down. His alarm hadn’t gone of that morning, so he was late, very late, already-missed-the-bus kind of late. Shit!

A hasted look on the clock in the bathroom told him he already missed the bus, meaning he had to go to school by bike, something Louis absolutely hated. On top of it his sisters had already used all the warm water so no, a quick, cold shower wasn’t really the best idea if you wanted to forget your previous nightmares or fatigue. Louis got dressed in a record tempo, just throwing whatever shirt on he found, not even checking if it was even clean and rushed outside, grabbing a banana while doing so.

He didn’t even like bananas. Mushy yellow fruit, was more Harry’s cup of tea, but he really didn’t have the time for some cereal if he still wanted to get to school on time. After grabbing his jacket, he finally got to make his way over to his rusty bike, leaning forgotten outside to the brick wall of the house.

Louis hadn’t even set three steps outside as he already tripped on something. Huh? Was that… Ew? A dead squirrel? Poor animal, Louis thought, but he still kicked the cadaver out of his way, engrossed by the big flies surrounding the dead rodent, a stain of blood now tainting his shoes. Could his day even get worse?

Not even a half hour later, Louis finally arrived at school, still ten minutes late. As he didn’t really wanted to be spotted riding a bike, he locked it up a next to an abandoned bench where no one ever came, close to, but not yet on school property. With a little prayer that his teacher wouldn’t give him too much shit for it – because really with a mood like this a detention would only make everything worse – he jogged, wanting to get to class.

However it seemed to be his day wasn’t that bad as he had thought it would be, because none of the teachers or students had left for class yet. Instead a huge crowd had gathered around a school wall, the first you’d see by entering the school by car. A part of the wall had been roped off by the police and police cars were surrounding the crowd of students and teachers, flashing lights shining a bright red, the police men themselves scattered, mumbling things in black walky-talky’s.

What was going on?

As Louis didn’t really noticed any of his friends, he moved closer, wanting to get a peek of the wall as his curiosity took over. He pushed himself through the buzzed crowd, students not making a fuzz of letting him through. The wall came closer and closer, and soon Louis stood in front of it, having a good look of it. He was utterly confused by the sight.

On the wall was with a dark red paint – was it even paint, the texture didn’t seem right – a sentence written in Latin.

_‘Canes, cavete traditori’_

For once in his life - alright it was the second time as the first one was when he realized at the beginning of the school year that he was put in the same classroom as Harry, making it their only class they had together - Louis was glad his parents had pushed him a bit to learn Latin. (Every other time, he hated the ancient language with a burning passion. Almost as much as he hated riding a bike to school. Almost.) So he gathered all his knowledge together and tried to translate the words.

"Dogs, beware of the traitor," he mumbled to himself. Who would put that on a school wall? And why was it such a big deal? It was probably written by some twelve year old boys, trying to be interesting and cool.

But then he looked down at the ground and noticed that the cause of all the commotion were not just three, shoddy written, Latin words. Underneath the sentence, was a pile of dead, rotting animals. Rabbits, cats and chipmunks all thrown together, blood still seeping out of fresh wounds. The worst part were their eyes, still wide open out of the agony they felt during the last seconds of their too-short life.

The sight was utter disgusting and Louis could feel the bile rising up in his throats. Did that mean the Latin sentence was written in animal blood? Why would someone even do this? Could it? He couldn't help himself but find the dog-part shady, it sounded too much as the writer wanted to the werewolves in a demeaning manner. Hadn't Harry once told him that other Supernatural creatures liked to call them dogs? That it was a degrading term? So, could it be the mysterious creature that had done this? No one else would be this cruel, right?

Suddenly Louis' arm got grabbed, a big hand pulling him out of the crowd and dragging him along. The big head full of curls that Louis was so familiar with, guided him to a much more calm place. Harry was whispering quick sentences to someone on the Phone where Louis couldn't even make one word out of. When the werewolf finally stopped and turned around, they couldn't spot any student or teacher anymore as they stood behind one of the more older buildings of the school. He hanged up a second afterwards to take a good look at Louis.

Green eyes were scanning the boy from tip to toe, clouded with concern and worry, "Are you okay?" Harry questioned.

"Yeah, sure, I'm- yeah." Louis nodded as Harry gathered him in a hug, nuzzling his nose in the pit of Louis' neck, comforted by the scent of his boyfriend.

They stood like that for a while as Louis felt Harry's worry and concern decrease with every minute passing, probably because of the fact that he now knew that the blue-eyed boy was completely fine.

Louis then took a step back, his arms still around the other lad, "What's wrong? What happened?" Why was Harry like this? Sure, something had happened, but it had just been some animals, nothing to do with him, "Do you think the creature has done that, by the way?"

Harry looked up, finally meeting the blue eyes, "Yes, I can smell it all over the place." He scrunched his nose by the thought of it.

"But it's not that big of a deal right? It just wants to take a piss with you. It's probably an empty treat." Louis was still confused because of Harry's reaction.

"Yeah, probably, I know."

"Then there's no need to be this worried. Did something else happen too?"

Harry bit his lip in response.

"Something happened." Louis guessed, panic rising in his blood, "What is it? Is it bad."

"No, no, I probably over-reacted a bit," Harry immediately tried to soothe him, rubbing his arms.

"Then tell me what happened."

"It's just... I came around to your house this morning, but you already left because I in was incredibly late, and I could smell the creature all around your house and on the way to the school. I just flipped and got scared. I thought something had happened to you-," his voice broke at the end of the sentence, like he couldn't even imagine if something happened to Louis.

"It's probably nothing," Louis tried to fight back the upcoming fear, comforting Harry as well, "It's trying to get a reaction out of you, and as I am the boyfriend of the beta of your pack, it just wanted you to feel scared and threatened."

"You're right," Harry breathed, in which Louis cheekily smiled back, "Aren't I always?"

Harry rewarded him with a smiling kiss, glad that the atmosphere of their conversation had lightened.

"I'm never gonna leave you out of my sight anymore," he still promised.

Louis rolled his eyes, deciding to change the subject ,So who were you calling five minutes ago?"

"Nick, just telling him about the message and animals. We’re setting up a pack meeting this evening. You should come."

It looked like Harry just casually mentioned Louis coming with him, but his tone gave him away. Of course, he was nothing like an alpha, but his beta voice could also hold a lot of power and authority. He barely used it, but when he did, there was practically no chance for discussion, meaning that he really wouldn't let Louis out of his eye anymore, so he had to come along that evening.

It would be Louis' first attendance to a pack meeting because, well, he wasn't pack right? Only members of the werewolf pack ever attended those meetings. He had never heard of a human being present. Could humans even be part of a pack? Harry just didn't want to lose him, this didn't mean anything, right? Or did he now consider Louis part of the pack too?

Harry gave him another kiss, "Let's go. The commotion should be gone by now, so we should get to class."

The entire way to class, and actually the entire time sitting in his first class too, Louis couldn't help but thinking of the ending of their conversation. What did it actually mean to be pack? Could he ever be? What did he mean to Harry? Was this becoming more than just a high school relationship? He didn't even know if he should be afraid or glad with the thought.

 


	5. V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I go crazy 'cause here isn't where I wanna be  
> And satisfaction feels like a distant memory  
> And I can't help myself,  
> All I wanna hear her say is "Are you mine?"
> 
> The Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kept procrastinating writing this chapter because it had a smut scene.  
> I'm sorry.
> 
> *
> 
> Spelling and grammar errors of previous chapters should be gone now :)  
> Please follow me on tumblr!

The meeting was held where all other pack’s meeting had been held before and that was at Nick’s place. Not only because he was the alpha of the pack, but also because he was the only one who lived on his own. Harry had left almost immediately when school had ended, bringing Louis along with him. As the beta of the pack, he didn’t want to risk it to be late. After all, the function held some responsibilities, one of them being supporting his alpha. So when Louis and Harry set foot in Nick’s flat, none of the other members were there yet but the alpha, of course.

“Oh, I see you’ve brought princess along? Why? Won’t he miss dance class or something. It would be a shame if he had to miss that for just a pack meeting. ” Nick winked as he opened the door to greet them and let them in.

“Watch it, baldy. You might lose some more hair if you keep working yourself up like that. Your hair line is receding already,” Louis gave him a deadly smile.

“As long as my ass isn’t the size of Canada like some people I know, I think I’ll manage.”

Before Louis could even fire back, Harry sighed, letting himself in saying, “Nick, Louis has every right to be here. He’s been targeted too by the creature, probably only because of us, so he should know what’s going on. Maybe he can even help.”

“Yes,” Louis instantly agreed, “so shut it baldy and let me through,” before making an ugly face at Nick.

“Louis,” Harry scolded, but as he saw Nick’s reaction, a rolling of his eyes like he was still a child and not in his twenties, he just shook his head, muttering, “I’m dealing with a bunch of toddlers here.” And he went to get a drink from the fridge.

 

*

 

Slowly the others too trickled in, all chatting and joking like it was just a meeting up with friends. It felt oddly normal, actually. Nothing like Louis had imagined. He vaguely recognised some girls from school, Harry having them point out sometime ago when he had explaining Louis who was part of the pack. While they, Leigh-Anne, Perrie, Jade and Jesy, would normally mingle and joke with the boys, they were currently all sitting, catching up near the left corner of couch, almost like it was their corner. The boys, Niall, Josh and Liam, on the other hand had all huddled together on the right side. Finally the four pups, all younger than sixteen, just sat in front of it on the rug, sometimes sneaking curious but pleased glances at Louis. Everyone seemed to have their spot, the wolf hierarchy clear. Louis wondered if it were instinct for them to behave like this, to know their place.

As the alpha, Nick of course stood right before them, the leader of the pack, the head of the team, his right hand, his beta, was placed next to him, on his right side. This made that Louis, who was holding hands with Harry, started to think about what his place meant. Would the other werewolves, the pack members, think it meant something that he stood in front of them, next to their beta, like a, like a _mate_?

Did it mean something that he even attended this meeting? He knew Harry’s reason, saying Louis, you’ve become a target, it’s getting dangerous and you should be a part of this, you could help, but were those the real reasons, wasn’t there more behind it all, something Harry hadn’t told him? As far as Louis knew, Liam had never brought Danielle along when she used to be his girlfriend, even when the rogue alpha was still dangerously present, roaming around. So, what did Louis and Harry have that those two hadn’t had at the time. Sure, Liam had broken up with her only a couple of months afterwards, so they hadn’t been that serious- wait, was that it? Did Harry think that their relationship had become real serious? Was this his way of showing it? Did he brought Louis along this time, to present him to the pack as his, as his mate?

It made Louis think of, if he hadn’t know before, if he hadn’t accidentally seen Niall and Harry shift almost a year ago, and Louis and Harry still had ended up together, would this be the time, the cue for Harry to tell his secret? His new-found thoughts made his head spin.

Suddenly Nick cleared his throat and at the same time, the whole room fell silent in respect for their alpha, everyone’s attention directed at him, everyone looking up at their leader and making themselves ready to listen.

“The situation has gotten worse. It is now blatantly mocking us and even showing itself to the humans, trying to create fear and commotion. It’s playing with us, trying to get our attention.” Nick then looked next to him at Harry, “Harry, tell us what happened to your princess.”

He gave him a stern look before talking. “When I had been making my round this morning I found his trace all around Louis’ house, like it had been watching him. It, Of course, probably knows what Louis means to me and has done this wanting to provoke me. It wants to scare us. So I wouldn’t be surprised if anyone of your loved ones, mothers, brothers, comes home stinking like this beast. It just wants to get our attention, I’m sure of it, but let’s make this sure. He’ll get what he wants.”

While the rest of the room breaks out in a nervous chatter, creating a loaded buzz that travelled the room, Louis just felt slightly angry with Harry for not having called out on Nick for calling Louis a princess. Well, he was thinking of that and, of course, that Harry had spoken very well. Powerful and full of authority, just like a beta supposed to. And if that had excited Louis, thinking it was very hot, then that was his secret only. Well, until he noticed Harry’s hidden cheeky smirk. Damn that werewolf nose for smelling his arousal.

Nick cleared his throat again, shutting up everyone. Even Louis could feel the power that that alpha beheld and he wasn’t even a werewolf, so he wondered how it felt like to them.

“Thank you, Harry. So, pack, I think there has to be a decision made on how we’d react. _Do_ we attack? When? And, especially, how are we gonna catch that bastard?”

*

The rest of the meeting didn’t go that well. Everyone was too nervous, too busy with worrying, stomachs buzzing out of fear, to think clearly and properly. Everyone was also just too easily irritated, jumping on each other’s nerves and firing back insults at the speed of light. Especially Louis and Nick, whose relationship even in its best day, was worse than the one of Tom and Jerry were showing what they'd got. Nick kept sneaking messy insults into his sentences, angering Louis beyond compare, forcing him to sassily fire back. To Louis, the worst wasn't even Nick's behaviour, it was Harry's.

Not once had he defended Louis, no, instead of that, the lad had even scolded him like a naughty child for one of his dirtiest comebacks, muttering he shouldn't act this way to Nick, his alpha. It left an astonished, but not less annoyed Louis, whose feelings had been slightly hurt. Not that he would ever show that, in front of Nick of all people. So he just kept his mouth for the rest of the meeting, only giving his opinion every now and then. After all, the group still had some serious matters to discuss.

*

"He thinks he's so funny with his big, ugly quiff, but let me tell you, he's everything but!" Louis complained as Harry opened the front door of his house. The lad yawned while tossing his keys to the side.

"You did provoke him a lot," Harry brought out uninterested.

"Well, he certainly started it. Not even today, but he also expressed his disliking of me at the very beginning."

"You sound like such a child," Harry rolled his eyes at him while getting out of his coat, leaving his shoes in front of the door, "And I actually remember you disliking him the first time you set eyes on him," he yawned again.

"Come to bed, love?" Harry asked as he didn't get a response, making effort to climb the stairs. To his surprise, Louis didn't immediately follow. No, he kept standing there, arms crossed over his chest, eyes determined.

"Lou?"

"You know what..." Louis spoke up, "No. No, I won't come with you. You just let him be, let him insult me all night. You're supposed to be my boyfriend, but you're too much of a pussy to even try and defend my honour. Even worse, as soon as I say something back, you're quick to defend him!" 

"But you've got to understand that he's my alpha. I can't just speak up to him, scold him in front of the entire pack. That would be so disrespectful. As a beta I should be an example," Harry said carefully, having come back, closer to Louis. 

"So it's just okay for _him_ to keep attacking me, to hurt my feelings? It's Obvious who's more important to you!" Louis cried out. To his annoying, the anger had caused his eyes to redden. Louis wiped off the traitorous tears who were about to slip out with the back of his hand, looking everywhere but in Harry's direction.

Harry's own eyes, in their turn, had gone soft, though filled with pain.

"That's not true, Louis," he whispered, voice rough. He then tried to take Louis' hand, but the boy flinched away, causing a pang of hurt in Harry's chest. "No, Louis, you're wrong. You know you're the most important person in my life, right?"

Louis was still looking away, so Harry gently took his chin in between his fingers, softly turning his head to him, forcing the blue gems to point his way.

"Louis, love, you mean so much to me. I'm sorry if I haven't showed that enough. I'm sorry I've made you feel this way. Please don't ever think you don't mean much to me. You're my soul mate. I- I love you..."

Surprised, Louis pulled back, eyes wide, but curious.

"You- you do?"

"I, yes, of course," Harry started to smile tentatively, "I do, you oblivious kitten. I've liked you ever since I've let eyes on you for the first time. Even more after I've got to know you, while I was pining so hard and you played hard-to-get. The day you kissed me for the first time, was the best day of my life. And somewhere along the road I've started to love you. How couldn't I? You're so special, and soft, and smart, and cute, and funny and just so beautiful. I'm sorry I've made you feel unimportant."

He bended down to kiss Louis' neck and took the lack of resistance Louis showed as a good sign.

"I love you too," Louis brought out after a while with a small voice as an even smaller smile was playing around his lips. He actually hadn't been one hundred percent sure if he loved Harry back, but for some reason it felt the right thing to say back, it felt right to speak those three words.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." The small smile had escalated to a full on beam, blue eyes shimmering of joy. He then leaned in to plant a kiss on the lips of the werewolf. He quickly responded, leaning down to press his lips against Louis' just as softly.

They kiss like that for a few minutes, slow and careful. Lips moving along with each other for a little while and then pulling away again. Harry puts his hand on Louis' cheek and kisses him firmly, turning the innocent kissing in a not-so-chaste snog.

"Come to bed," Harry brought out, voice rough and deep. He didn't even wait for Louis to respond, before he hauls him up at his knees, his legs resting on his own hips.

"You're such a cave-man," Louis pouted offended.

"You know you love it." And well, Louis couldn't deny that.

Just like that, Harry led them up stairs to his bedroom, dropping his boyfriend on the duvet of his bed. Things were going fast- faster than usual, at least. Before they knew it, they were both hard, their shirts taken off to lay on the floor in a slight mess. Harry's hands were on Louis hips and everything moved fast and slow at the same time.  
  
Harry pulled away from the kiss for a brief second, moving to just look and marvel over Louis' chest, afterwards he moved forward to press little, wet kisses down his throat.

"We have the whole house by ourselves, 'cause my mum's working late again," he murmured along his kisses.

"Hmm, we, we have?" Louis gasped in return, thoughts getting incoherent from his arousal. 

"I was thinking this might be the perfect opportunity to, like only if you want to, or like, if you want it to be special I can, or if you want to wait that's fine too, you don't have to do this, it’s not an obligation-" Harry started to babble, getting slightly nervous about it.

"Harry," Louis interrupted him suddenly, pulling the curly haired boy closer, whispering to his lips, "Just fuck me."

Harry seemed to catch on pretty quickly too, a dirty smirk playing out across his lips as he pressed his face into the crook of Louis’ neck again, his large hands finding their way to the zipper of the older boy’s jeans, opening it before pulling the clothing off. Louis mimicked the gesture, letting them both in their underwear.  Shifting their bodies a bit until Harry falls between Louis' laid-open legs, their hips aligned, they immediately rock up against each other. The friction against their clothed cocks was enough to make them both splutter our incoherent curses.  It was good – so, _so_ good.

Louis didn't know when Harry had found the time to take the lube, but he should have, because in the middle of their kisses, he felt a lubed finger tracing his rim, another hand shoving down his boxers.

"You want to ride me?" Harry groaned out, voice deep and sexy, "You want to bump up and down, teasing me, making me lose control?"

Louis moaned as his finger finally penetrated his rim, feeling it curl and crook, not giving him time to adjust to it yet.

"Or do you want me to fuck you open, want me to hold you down, let you just take it."   
  
Louis was letting out gasps and mewls of pleasure, "Yes, please, Harry, just, please."  
  
Harry kissed him deeply again, holding his hips with one hand as he made sure Louis wasn't in pain, and momentarily watched his boyfriends face as it contorted in pleasure. Harry smiled and kissed him again, trying to bit back an obvious smirk when Louis muttered a small _more_ against his ear, his lips confidently closing around the skin, teeth biting gently.  
  
 He nodded, pushing in his second finger, and groaning as Louis felt deliciously tight around him. The smaller boy just couldn't wait for his cock. He suppressed a moan as he slowly spread the fingers apart, brushing a small spot as he saw Louis' thighs shake, falling open even more.

"You respond so well," Harry murmured, "You've done this before? You've fingered yourself open while waiting for me? Imagining I was doing that?"

"I- yes. Only thinking 'bout you, I swear." Harry's fingers had stopped moving inside of him, so Louis tried to push his hips back, searching more friction.

"You're so dirty," Harry smirked, adding a third finger, gracing Louis' prostate while moving them again, spreading Louis wide open.

"I'm ready," Louis managed to bring out in between a series of breathy moans, "Please, Harry, I'm ready."

He could hear the tear of the condom packet, before feeling a blunt object poking at his rim. He instantly pushed his hips down, wanting to take it in.

"Patient, Lou."

But Harry's words were futile, because immediately after he pushed in, making them both groan out. It felt so amazing having Louis' tight walls around his wide cock, but he knew that didn't count for his boyfriend yet, so Harry let Louis adjust for a while. Soon enough the smaller gave him access again, nodding, telling him it was okay to move again, having adjusted to the stretch.

 Harry slipped in inch by inch, pulling Louis into a long, deep kiss silencing his moans and distracting him from the initial burn, mumbling small sentences against his skin about how good he was doing and how amazing it felt. Louis clenched around him blissfully.  
  
Harry rocked his body back slowly, holding Louis' trembling thighs apart as he began moving at a too slow pace, upon which Louis urged him to go on. He then started moving faster to Louis' request, the smaller boy moaning desperately and rutting his hips slightly against Harry's, making the werewolf groan in response, re-angling himself so he could go deeper. Louis suddenly shivered, and his broken voice croaked out a small, "right there, fuck," as the tip of Harry's cock pressed against his prostate. He let out small ragged breaths as Harry nodded and began moving against the bundle of nerves repeatedly.

Louis was close, whimpering brokenly, small hand curling around his own cock as he stroked himself a few more times. Harry grunted, speeding up his thrusts so Louis moaned out loud and convulsed into his own hand. Harry couldn't get himself to stop, kissing Louis hard one last time before he too came, inside the condom, riding out his orgasm.  
  
Louis' breath was still rising and falling simultaneously as Harry pulled out, rolling off the condom and throwing it in the bin, wrapping his arms around his waist and placing a kiss on the shoulder.

"Love you," Louis managed to bring out, too tired to do anything else. It felt odd that he was allowed to do that now, that he _wanted_ to do it in the first place. But he figured that he shouldn't think it through so much, and just enjoy the fuzzy feeling as Harry said it back.

"Love you too, Lou."

He lifted the duvet so it fell on top of them. Only  a minute later he got up again to fetch a flanel. He didn't want to deal with that mess in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everytime someone comments or gives kudos, my smile grows bigger


	6. VI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They sat it's what you make  
> I say it's up to fate  
> It's woven in my soul  
> (I need to let you go)
> 
> Demons - Imagine Dragons

“Hold on. Are you trying to say you finally fucked him?!”

“Well, not technically. But yes, we did have sex. I just told you. Now quiet down. The whole school doesn’t need to know. And why are you so surprised in the first place?”

Louis didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, trying to sound as blasé as possible while talking to Zayn about the loss of his virginity. He was eternally grateful for having met Zayn and having befriended the lad so soon. It just felt amazing to talk about normal teenage stuff like sex for once and not needing to have deep, stressful conversations about mythical creatures and their vicious side effects.

“I’m not. Not really,” Zayn said, “I just didn’t know you were thinking about it. Like, it came a bit out of the blue.”

“It’s not like I’ve been pondering on it for weeks, visioning it and shit,” Louis snickered.

“You know what I mean,” Zayn answered flustered, “Isn’t it a topic you discuss with your best mates. Like isn’t that the protocol?”

“Oh, I didn’t know we were best mates? I’m glad you cared to decide that for me,” Louis said innocently. Zayn looked a little hurt by the statement, so the other lad decided quickly to let him know he had only been joking, sending a cheeky wink his way.

“I do see where you’re coming from,” he amended afterwards, “It was just a spur in the moment, I guess. So I didn’t really have time to discuss it with you, but I promise that from now on I’ll talk with you about all the milestones of Harry and mine relationship. It does work the other way around too, so let’s talk about  _your_ relationship now! How’s Liam doing?”

And that kids, was just how you change topics. Louis was a pro in it.

“We’re not a couple,” Zayn blurted instantly. The denial had seemed to come like a reflex.

“Well, not yet.”

“Yeah sure. In my dreams.”

“No really. There’s a spark. I can see it! I mean, you got along perfectly at the movie night, right? You just need a little bit more time,” Louis smiled encouraging at him.

“Nah. He just wants to be friends, I think.”

“That’s how it starts, and before you know it, you’re sucking his dick.” Louis shrugged like it was evident.

“Is that how it went with you and Harry?”

Louis took his time to think that over, than shrugged again, “Basically, now that I think of it. And we took way longer to get to the stage of friendship than you two so getting together with Liam should be as easy as pie.”

“But that was you and him. You two would find your way to each other anyway. You’re practically made for each other! I can already see that you two fit like Oreos and milk and I haven’t even seen you two together that much all together. So, you can’t really compare you two to me and anyone else. The soul mate thing doesn’t work for us commoners.”

Huh, did people really see them that way? Even Zayn, who’d only known them for a couple of months. Louis’ never thought about how they looked together to others, even less that they could be soul mates, as if their relationship wasn’t yet mythical enough. The thought did make him smile from the inside, the idea pleased him. Could it be? Hmm, he made a mental note to ask Niall about it. The Irishman would never lie to him.

“Let’s just sit together with them at lunch, ‘mkay? Harry’s been pestering me about it for ages and this way you and Liam can become even better friends. They all like you, by the way. Harry’s told me as much. So, no need to be insecure or shy or anything.”

Zayn didn’t immediately answer, but eventually he gave in, sighing to make his slight displeasure clear, “I guess. Only if you won’t snog Harry all the time. ”

“Good. That’s a deal then. Although I can’t decide anything on Harry’s behalf!” Louis cheered, draping his arm over Zayn’s shoulder.

Finally, point two of his Get Ziam Together plan, could be checked off. What a great day to be alive.

 

***

 

Lunch turned out great. Zayn and Liam talked happily about superheroes and homework, every once in a while letting Niall participate in their conversation. The two of them just clicked. If Zayn could see what Louis saw, he wouldn’t have any doubts anymore and ask Liam on a date, he was sure of it. Seeing them interact was amazing. Both clearly interested in the other, but also both too shy to make a move. They just needed a push. Too bad Louis had promised himself he’d wait until they were even better friends before trying to check his third point off his Get Ziam Together plan.

Louis himself, was true to his word and didn’t make out with Harry all the time, not even a little actually, ‘cause they didn’t want to annoy everyone around them with their PDA. However, they did play footsie under the table, flirting like two twelve year olds.

It felt good. Even if it were only a normal school day, Louis couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so happy. The normality of the situation even making it better if anything. Yes, in the back of his head he knew he actually needed to worry of the creature that haunted their village, but he kind of figured that as a human, he could leave that to the pack. It wasn’t like he himself could change something about it, so why bother letting it paint his thoughts black?

As he walked back to class, he couldn’t believe how lucky he was having a boyfriend, which he had amazing sex with, and a group of friends, some more trustworthy than others, but still worthy his time. Everything was perfect, so why did it feel like the quiet before the storm? Like that song of The Foo Fighters: Could everything be this real forever? Could anything be this good again?

 

 

 

***

 

_Two men._

_He didn’t know if he was here because of them, or if they were just blocking his way. He also didn’t know why, but he did not like the sight of them. All he did know was that they should be disposed off. The drive didn’t come from his own mind, but he didn’t care._

_In a flash they appeard closer, almost right in front of them. Did he move, or did they? Not important. The sudden hatred burned hot, his eyes flaming as they finally notice him._

_On the other hand, they noticed him too late._

_With a thumb they fall on the ground. What happened? Did he do that to them? He didn’t know. It didn’t matter._

_In a flash he stood in the middle of the woods. The dark lurked upon him. The light dimming with every moment passing. Not that he had any feeling of time here. Minutes could have gone by without him noticing. Time didn’t matter._

_A small snake came out of nowhere. Blinking, cocking its head, yellow eyes fixed on him, like it tried to bring him in some sort of trance. It paid too much attention to him for a normal animal, squinting its eyes  before it hissed incomprehensible sentences._

_He tried to avert his gaze. It didn’t work. The animal managed to smirk, he was sure of it, before it crawled, no glided, towards him. His surroundings having_ _gone pitch black._

_Two, three, no twenty snakes were coming his way, closer and closer and closer. Frozen, unable to move, he watched them.  It took ages for the creatures to reach him, or maybe it happened in a blink of an eye. He couldn’t really tell anymore._

_But he did sense the moment the first one reached him, touched his leg. A pang of revulsion ran through his shin, his paralyzed limb becoming heavier as the snakes all used it as a bridge to the rest of his body. The hissing got deafening. Someway, somehow, he ended up on the ground. It wasn’t until that moment, that he finally understood that the snakes and their dead look, terrified him beyond compare._

_They had reached his chest and, where there used to be legs and arms, was currently a lump of vivid coloured reptiles, bearing their fangs while making the annoying hissing noises. He wondered when they would stop, if they’d ever stop._

_They had reached his neck. He wanted to scream, but no sound could be heard, eyes spread wide for only to see a yellow darkness. If darkness could ever be yellow. One of the snakes made good use of the opportunity to intrude, crawling into his mouth directly into his throat. The others should’ve taken it as their cue to follow their leader and penetrate his mouth, his ears, his nose, maybe even his eyes, he wasn’t sure._

_He couldn’t see anything but black anymore, however the deafening hissing stays crystal clear. They were all gone in a heartbeat, taken in by his body, or corpse all of a sudden. Was he even still alive?_

_He opened his eyes and was immediately met by a pair of familiar eyes staring back at him. He recognized the particular hue of green, however he wasn’t as comforted by the sight of them like he usually was. Something felt off._

_As Harry started to smile, no actually it was more of a wicked smirk, that was the moment when Louis finally could. The sight of his boyfriend looking so unreal, like pure evil looming over him caused him to scream again. This time there was noise. So much noise. His ears ringing at the force of it._

_***_

He woke up on his belly, which was odd in itself already, feeling the mattress pressing up on his chest. Keeping his eyes closed for a bit more, trying to get rid of the nightmare that still haunted him, he concentrated on the sounds around him. The birds were singing their daily song, and it was only now that Louis noticed that he could actually hear them sing from inside of his room.

A chill ran up his spine, so he decided to look for his duvet again, not really welcoming the cold. Well, he’d have to get up eventually. His eyelids blink open, closing and opening again a few times and he was met with the sight of… brown. Brown? When had his mattress got dark brown and… Smelled like dirt?

He eyes shot open after as the first morning light blinded him for a second, he got notice of his surroundings.

He was not at home.

In fact, he was not in a bed.

He had actually no idea where he was. All he could see were trees, pine trees to be precise and a couple of oaks. There were birds high in the tree tops and the sun peaked out from the end of the horizon, indicating that it was still really early.

This time, Louis’ scream got out without much difficulties as he crawled backwards, head snapping in every direction as his brain tried to decide if this was real or not.

“ _Fuck, fuck, fuck_ ,” Louis whispered as a mantra.

Holy shit. This was so not happening to him. He had not ended up in the middle of the woods, in his pajamas for Christ sake, at ass shit in the morning. Bloody hell.

He tried to recall what happened the day before, but his mind went blank after lunch. However, he was dressed in pajamas, the crispy wind reminding him of his light dressing, so he must have gone to bed at some point of the night. No? Did he sleepwalk all the way from his bed to some random spot in a random forest? Was that even possible?

“Shit. Fuck. _Fuck!”_ He cursed again, cold sweat breaking out. The situation terrified him almost as much as his nightmare had. What the hell was happening to him?

“Okay, Louis,” he told himself, “Get your shit together and think of a plan.” He slapped his cheeks for good measures, trying slap the knowledge of a plan into his brain, and made efforts to get up. His arms immediately crossed over his chest, a chill running through his entire body. He was freezing.

After turning around, looking for a bit, he noticed an asphalt road not too far away, hidden between a few pine trees. Walking over, he cursed as the needles of the trees dug into his bare feet. When he finally reached the street, the smooth surfaces came like a gift send by the gods. Fortunately, he recognized this part of the road. A sign, fallen over a few years ago, told him the name of his village, causing him to let a relieved sigh. Louis’d only need to walk a mile or two to get to his house. At the stand of the only recently rising sun, he concluded that it was still pretty early, probably not even five in the morning.

Trying to suppress his ever thought concerning his situation, trying to convince himself that he was, in fact, not losing his mind, he started to walk back home. He hoped if he didn’t think of it, he could try to pretend it never happened. And, actually, there wasn’t even anything odd about a bit of sleepwalking. It was only human, right? Or, that was what he tried to tell himself as he forced his cold legs to lead him home.

 

***

 

When Louis got home, the clock pointed at a quarter to six, the house still quiet and peaceful, he’d come to the conclusion that he was only sure of one thing. He would not be telling this to anyone. Ever.

His family and friends already had enough to worry of and surely didn’t need Louis’ issue of odd sleepwalking behavior on top of it. Besides, it was not like Louis had indeed lost his wits or anything, he was probably only stressed out. That was what he’d heard that caused sleepwalking, so. It was all completely normal behavior.

He tended not to think of the fact that it had been two miles of sleepwalking, but alright.

His mum joined him downstairs just as he was pouring himself a glass of orange juice, after having washed and dressed himself. She didn’t mention him missing and even smiled at him, being grateful as she accepted another tall glass of orange juice Louis handed her.

The situation felt oddly normal, familiar and all, and Louis could almost forget his two-miles long walk. He could even almost convince himself that it hadn’t happened at all if it weren’t for the pain of his feet, the cramped muscles.

The cereal he ate for breakfast tasted bland, the commotion his sisters caused to get ready for school managed to give him a head ache and as he got ready to gather his phone and bag to leave for school, he sensed that he was just damn tired. No, not tired. Exhausted felt more like it. His mood was like a big, purple cloud and if he could, he would let the thunder out, but he was even too exhausted to try snapping at his sister for having spilled her milk all over the table.

He thought that it couldn’t get any worse, or actually he only hoped for it, knowing that fate didn’t play according to that rule.

Louis wanted to call Harry, ask him to join him on his way to school, after all he still had the time to walk towards his house, but with one look at his phone he forget the whole plan.

Harry had sent him a message only half an hour ago.

 _Letting you know that I wont be at school._  
_The creature has attacked two men. Theyre not dead._  
_Or we think it’s the creature, not sure of it, it’s a bit different this time_  
_nick and I are going to the bottom of it_  
_Don’t worry, be careful, I love you H.xx_

Louis was sat frozen on his bed, staring at his phone, bag lying forgotten next to his feet on the floor. He really tried not to think of the thing, but the messages made him clear, that he should think the thing, thinking, makes him thinking the thing. The possibility.

Could it be? No, could _he_ be??

Was it just a big coincidence. The beast striking again just as he had experienced what he just had experienced? He tried to recall all the previous times the creature had made his moves. Could he be? Had he always been sleeping during one of the attacks? Or, maybe, had he blacked out for it?

Were the freaking nightmares and head-aches and black outs from the last weeks, finally making sense? But wait no, Harry had mentioned the creature even before those had started. Could that be the prove Louis was not an evil creature, acting during his sleep? But then what could explain his nightmare? The attack of two men had felt so real, and exactly like what Harry had told in his text. It would also explain the exhaustion he’d been suffering lately.

Louis wasn’t sure of anything anymore. Shaking his head, trying to forcefully drive bad thoughts away, he stood up in a sudden hurry, gathering his things, before flying outside, leaving for school with his phones still cramped in his hand.

He was just too tired, probably hallucinating. He’d made it all up, having not slept enough. The black outs, the vivid, too vivid, dreams, all figments of his imagination.

He sent an empty: _Okay, take care! xxx,_ back to Harry when he was finally seated in the bus and decided to not think of it anymore for the rest of the day, and week, and year.

He refused to be a greater part of the mythical world.

He refused to be a victim. Or, well, he refused to be the culprit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story has finally really started!  
> If you didnt like this chapter (I think theres a big chance) then please comment as of why :)  
> Please leave feedback if you liked it too and visit my tumblr!


	7. VII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's quite short and uneventful... I don't really know what happened... The next one should be better AND I'll update sooner ^^ 
> 
> *  
> Song of the chapter: Magic - Coldplay
> 
> And I just got broken  
> Broken into two  
> Still I call it magic  
> When I'm next to you
> 
> *

“Lou, baby. Are you up.” The gentle voice and fingers, treading through his hair, brought him out of his sleep. He fluttered his eyes, before trying to rub the fuzzy warm feeling of sleep out of them. He felt amazingly rested.

“I’m up,” he mumbled, snuggling deeper into the bread chest he’d used as a cushion.

“Did you have a good nap?”

“Yeah, I did,” Louis yawned, as he made efforts to sit up. And he actually had. It felt like the first time in weeks he’d got a good sleep without nightmares or minor cases of sleepwalking. The sting of pain in Louis’ bum he felt every time he moved, reminded him of what he and Harry had been doing before he’d fallen asleep. It brought a smile to his face. What a great time to be alive.

Of course, they had switched a couple of times, letting Louis top. But they both preferred it like this. Louis didn’t know why, but Harry filling him up gave him the best orgams.

“You must’ve been very tired. You just fell asleep before I even had the time to clean you off.” Harry asked in concern, moving to gather their clothes. He threw Louis his trousers and jumpers as well as a clean pair of boxers. And just like that, Louis was reminded again of his situation. Goodbye, sweet bless of ignorance.

“Yeah, I was actually. I didn’t sleep well last night,” Louis straightened his back, hearing his joints pop. It was true, he’d had a bad night of sleep last night, but that was more the rule than the exception these days.

“You seem to do that quite a lot lately,” Harry inquired, shooting looks filled with concern at his boyfriend.

“I guess,” Louis answered, pulling his shirt over his head at the same time.

“I hope it’s not because of the increase of attacks lately. I don’t want you to worry of those. I’m not trying to say that we’ve got everything under control, because as much as it pains me to say it, we haven’t, but I certainly won’t give it the chance to come close enough to you.”

“I know that Harry. The thought of it getting its hands on you is what worries me the most. And school too, I guess I need to stop stressing about the amount of homework and just get down to it, instead of procrastinating it.” He shrugged. It wasn’t like Louis lied to Harry. He _did_ worry of the curly haired lad. Louis worried of what he might do to Harry during one of his black-outs. Not to mention the fact that Harry’s face always seemed to pop up in his odd dreams. So, he wasn’t per se lying, just not telling the complete truth. Hanging out with werewolves had learnt him some sneaky ways to lie without his heartbeat giving him away.

“You don’t have to worry of us either, Louis. We’re not humans, we have natural weapons.” Harry let his claws out for a while, eyes turning from green to gold and back to green again as he finally withdrew his claws. He possessed the perfect control of his wolf, of which Niall and Liam could only dream of, that came with being a born werewolf.

“Don’t act like humans are weak, pathetic creatures. We can fight too.” Louis rolled his eyes, refusing to be seen as a damsel in distress just because of his nature.

“I know that. But in a way you are weaker, physically that is. You don’t have a proper healing. You can’t even take pain away from each other. Your hearing, strength, speed and stealth or mediocre. You’re not weak per se, just a tad more vulnerable than us.”

“That’s not entirely true, we just fight different than your kind. We use our brains to create technology. We invent our weapons,” Louis smiled as he pulled a pocket knife out of the pocket of his trousers.

“What’s that?” Harry asked dumbfounded, instantly smelling wolfsbane as Louis opened the knife.

“A pocket knife laced with wolfsbane to defend myself against supernatural creatures.”

“Where did you get that?” Harry took the knife out of his hand, careful not to touch the very poisonous blade and took his time to inspect it.

“Laced it myself after I got initiated in the supernatural world. The wolfsbane was a bitch to get, but I did feel a lot safer having it. I stopped taking it with me, after I decided to trust werewolves for not shifting and attacking me. With the attacks lately…” He shrugged.

“Smart,” Harry told him, after handing him the knife to put it back.

“Thanks, Curly,” Louis smiled, before giving him a kiss on the lips, tugging at his shirt to pull him closer.

“I really have to go now,” Harry sighed, “Nick said pack-meeting at half five and it’s already five fifteen.”

“You better go then,” Louis amended, “Wouldn’t want to madden grumpy Nick even more, huh.”

“You could come along, you know. The pack adores you.” Harry brought his puppy eyes out.

“Don’t think Grimshaw would agree to that actually. And besides, I already promised Zayn we’d hang out tonight.”

“Oh, well. Okay then. Say hi from me.” Harry spoke up as they were outside.

“I will. You too then, ‘kay?”

They kiss for a last time before breaking apart.

Louis figured he’d walk to the nearest bus stop and take a bus to Zayn’s house. It wasn’t that far from Harry’s, but still too far for walking. He hadn’t have a black out that day, nor the day before and it made him restless, thinking it could happen any moment.

The blackouts had kept coming the last few weeks and would struck randomly, sometimes only lasting for minutes, sometimes lasting for hours. Once Louis had gone to bed, not even knowing what had happened during the day since he'd woken up. Fortunately he hadn’t experienced anything like the time he’d waken up in the forest and no one noticed them. Well, no one had mentioned anything to him.

He'd come to two options. One, his memory just cut random bits out, but he still experienced them before getting wiped out. Two, his body just went on auto-pilot during the black outs. Louis didn't know why they happened, but he surely knew that he wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible.

He was also not entirely sure if they had anything to do with the attacks. According to Harry random people got paralysed by the creature. At first they thought those people were dead, but doctors soon found out they were still breathing, they just couldn’t move. After a bit more than a day, the victims would regain control of their limbs again. Unfortunately, none of them could remember what happened.

The police thought there was a new, very dangerous drug causing these symptoms. They couldn’t smell the scent of the creature on the victims of course, neither could they see the small healed scars at the back of their necks. The pack could.

But of course, that was the only thing the pack could do at the moment. Their lack of progress brought the whole pack on edge. Nick even more than others, apparently. One more reason of why Louis didn’t often go to pack meetings anymore. Normal Nick was already bad enough.

Louis was grateful for having a friend like Zayn, who didn’t even know that werewolves existed. He enjoyed the time they spend together and couldn’t think of how much more stressful his life would’ve been if he hadn’t get to meet this boy at the beginning of the year. Harry did a great job of using sex to keep them both sane and relaxed, but sometimes he just needed a friend. A friend whose biggest problem was that “Liam probably didn’t _like_ like him.”

So that was why the sight of Zayn’s front door opening brought an instant smile to Louis’ face.

***

“What do you wanna do?” Zayn asked as they’d gone up to his room.

“I should be responsible and ask you to study together, ‘cause my grades are really slacking, but I don’t think I want to.” Louis mumbled into Zayn’s fluffy rug, on which he was spread out. The softness and fluffiness of it almost hurt.

“I feel you,” Zayn answered, not bothering to elaborate.

Louis sat up straight again, “Let’s watch the first 300 film. I saw you had it on DVD last time.”

And that was how they ended up eating popcorn for dinner while having a movie marathon. Movies that consisted of 95% of fighting and bad special effects could Always bring a smile to his face.

“I almost forgot how much I love fictional violence,” Louis grunted in content, a handful of popcorn in his mouth.

“Too bad that Xerxes looks so silly. He’s supposed to be a badass god, but looks like a failed model of some extravagant designer,” Zayn sighed.

“They just did that so we’d hate the Persians even more and like the Spartans better. Not that it would be possible for me to like the Spartans less either way. They’re my favourite part of history.”

“I wouldn’t go that far, personally. I think the invention of pizza was way more important.”

Louis threw a piece of popcorn at Zayn’s head, “Favourite part of ancient Greece then.”

“So why’s Liam not here? I thought you’d become buddies recently?” Louis asked, even though he already knew the answer to it, as Zayn switched the disc from 300 to The Gladiator.

“He said he’d already made plans with some other people. He didn’t want to elaborate when I asked about it, so I just let him be.” He shrugged like he didn’t care. Louis could see through him, though.

“But…” he insinuated.

“But nothing, really.” Zayn said, watching the beginning of the film.

“Come on, something is definitely bothering you. I can see it on you. We’re best friends for a reason, Z.”

Zayn frowned at the screen, “I just feel like he’s hiding something, you know. He can be so secretive sometimes. It drives me crazy.”

So Zayn had noticed that something was up, after all. He wondered if the black haired lad could see through his own façade too when he lied to him to not reveal werewolves. People didn’t give Zayn enough credit sometimes. He was a very attentive and intelligent lad. Louis would bet his life on it that wouldn’t even take a half year for Zayn to figure out Liam’s hairy secret.

“I’m sure it’s nothing bad,” Louis said gently, “If, _if_ he’s hiding something, I’m sure he’ll tell you when he thinks time is right. Don’t you worry your pretty little head over it. It’s too pretty for that. The only thing you have to worry about now, is why you still haven’t made out with him.”

“Louis…” Zayn rolled his eyes.

“What? You’ve been dancing around each other for weeks now! You should’ve been together for ages by now.”

“I don’t think we’ll really end up together thought,” Zayn sighed, “I definitely still like him, but I think he sees me more as a friend and I’m on my way of trying to be okay with that.”

“Well I’m not okay with that!” Louis cried out, “I’m not willing to give up my title of your best friend to some human puppy. Don’t be such a pessimist and just give the boy some time. I’m sure that’s all he needs. You might not see it, but the way he acts around you is different from how he acts around his other friends. It’s quite like the way you act around him, acutally.”

“Yeah, sure,” Zayn pouted looking defeated, like a puppy that had tried to catch the laser light for several hours only to eventually give up. No wonder Liam and he would be great together. They both resembled puppies.

“Yes. I am sure. You only need to be pushed a bit more, and lucky for you I know the perfect way to do that,” Louis said, bumping his shoulder with his own fist.

“Oh, no! No, no, no!” Zayn cried out with wide eyes, “You’re not going to intervene. I don’t want to lose him as a friend which I definitely will if you are going to meddle. You’ll scare him away!”

“I would not,” Louis gasped scandalized, “And for the record, I’ve been _meddling,_ as you put it so nicely, from the beginning already. You just didn’t notice. And so far, I think I’ve done pretty well. Thank you very much.”

“Just forget our conversation and watch the film from now on.” Zayn commanded defeated.

As if Louis would listen to him. The next part of his GZT-plan could get started! He hadn’t yet figured out the details, but there were enough possibilities. Locking the two of them in a room until they one of them confessed their dying love for the other, for example. Or maybe he could send them on a blind date with each other. Like he said, the possibilities were endless. He mentally noted to ask Niall’s opinion on it. That Irishmen often had great ideas.

***

That was all Louis could remember of that night. One moment he was sitting next to Zayn watching The Gladiator, and the next he was lying in bed. Checking his phone he saw it was already four in the morning. He damned those awful black-outs and the nightmares that were soon to follow.

They were getting a little out of hand, actually, and Louis knew that the smartest thing to do was to inform someone of them. He couldn’t quite inform a doctor if it was something supernatural, though. And informing Harry sounded… too risky. He didn’t want to lose him, scare him away, and he was afraid that that might be the outcome of it.

Also, telling someone about them, would made them even more real. It was easier to just brush them off himself and feign they did not exist. Ignorance would always be a bliss.


	8. VIII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> there's bad written smut. oops. not much plot. hmm. I should do something about that I'm afraid.  
> but anyway, Rimming!
> 
> *  
> And she said, "Use your hands and my spare time—  
> We've got one thing in common, it's this tongue of mine."
> 
> The 1975 - Seks
> 
> *
> 
> Trigger warning for mentions of eating disorders. Just one mention actually.

"You're early." Louis stated as soon as he saw Zayn standing in the door opening.

They all had decided that monthly movie nights were going to be a thing, and as it had been hosted by Harry last month, this time it would be held at Louis' house. He already had stocked up on a variety of snacks and drinks and he’d brought out a dozen of pillows and blankets. All that, of course, after he'd sent his mother and sisters –his father once again had left on a business trip– to visit their grandmother. After all his nan had enough spare beds to house a complete football club.

"I guess I am." Zayn answered, giving him an unreadable look, "I couldn't find any classy bottles of Chardonnay, so I brought Doritos instead." he mentioned, taking off his jacket after he handed him a large packet of crisps.

"Thanks. Doritos are fine, great even." Louis led them to the living room, noticing Zayn behaving strange and nervous. "Make yourself at home," he therefore said as he plopped down on the couch, Zayn quickly following him. "You will have to wait for a bit longer for the others to arrive, though. Because, for some reason, you're almost an hour early."

Zayn just answered with a smile, fidgeting with his fingers in his lap and occasionally peeking up to give Louis another unreadable look.

"Okay, out with it." Louis declared after a while in which neither of the boys had spoken up.

"What do you mean?" Zayn asked uneasy, avoiding meeting his eyes.

Louis sighed, "Whatever it is that you need to get off your chest, spit it out. You clearly came early for a reason."

"Okay you're right. I wanted time to talk to you," Zayn spoke hesitantly, not even taking the opportunity to make a ‘that’s what she said’-joke. He clearly was upset about something and he scooted a bit closer, pointing his wide, honest eyes at Louis. He hesitated a bit before speaking up again, trying to find the right words.

"You know that I'm your friend and that if you want to talk to me about something, that I'll be there for you. I wouldn't, like, judge you. Ever. Or blab to Niall or Harry. I'm - I -You know that right?"

"Of course I know that. It’s the same for me. "Louis reassured him, a bit confused as he didn't know where the conversation was leading.

"Okay, fine. Good. Well, you know I care about you and that's only why. Uhm..."

"Out with it Zayn." Louis ordered with a soft voice.

"It's just I noticed you've lost some weight and you're like more nervous lately and I couldn't help but notice you've skipped lunch a couple of times and I'm just worried. It seems like you feel like losing weight for some reason and that worries me so much and you know that society tells us that only girls worry about that, but it's serious too when guys have it and I just can't do nothing if there's a chance that, you know I'll always be there for you and-"

"Hold on." Louis spoke up, halting Zayn's rambling. Had he heard that right? "You think I have an eating disorder?"

He wasn't the first to mention his weight loss, actually, even Harry had casually asked him about it a couple of days ago, but Louis had been quick to reassure him, said it was only a coincidence and that the stress of the school work and the pressure to apply for colleges probably were to blame. Zayn currently watched him with big puppy eyes, the most sincere look Louis had ever seen on him, before continuing.

"I'm not saying you have. I just, it worries me because you've visibly lost a couple of pounds. You might be developing one and I would hate it for you to think you have to lose weight, and it would be awful trying to get through it on your own. I care about you. We'll get through this together!"

"Zayn," Louis spoke softly but reassuring as he took his friend's hand in his own to calm him down, "I promise you I am not trying to lose weight."

"I know accepting it might be hard but-"

"I'm serious Zayn. I don't care about my weight, like, at all. Well, I probably would if I'd be obese, because that's really unhealthy, or like if I'd be skin over bones, but asides from that. I don't mind how much I weigh. I'm not trying to get skinnier. I promise. I get that it might seem like that, because you were right I did lose some weight, now that you mention it, and I might have skipped lunch at school couple of times, but that was just because I was nauseous. I guess, I just have been a bit stressed lately?" He shrugged, trying to come up with an answer that didn't reveal his irritating black-outs and nightmares that kept him from sleeping.

They were both quiet.

"Are- you're not lying, are you? You wouldn't, right?"

"I'm not. I promise."

Zayn's shoulders dropped out of relieve, a small smile playing around his lips, "Then I'm glad to hear that, well not that you've been stressed. The school system truly is fucked up, but that you're not starving yourself. Just try to put up some weight again, alright? It would make me feel much better."

"I promise to try," Louis smiled, "I'll even start with eating the whole bag of Doritos you brought!" He even opened it to emphasise his point and chucked down a whole hand of orange crisps.

Zayn rolled his eyes fondly, glad that he was joking already. A weight had been lifted of his chest as the issue had been bugging him for some days already.

"So... have you finally asked Liam for Winter Ball?" Louis asked, not too subtly changing the subject to something lighter, his mouth still full of food.

Zayn was happy to follow, "No, can't say I have, actually. He won't want to come with me anyway."

"I'm one hundred percent sure he will! Just go for it! I'm serious." He gulped down the Doritos. Louis might have asked Harry to ask Liam already and had got a positive answer, but he couldn't tell Zayn that. It would be like cheating. The two of them would have to get there on their own, or at least at this part of their relationship. Louis had already interfered enough.

"I'll think about it," Zayn said, "Have you actually asked Harry yet?"

"Nah, but I don't think one of us wants to make a big gesture of asking. We both know we'll be going together anyway, you know?"

"I wish I knew," Zayn sighed, before looking back at him with stars in his eyes, "One day I want to have something like you two."

Louis snorted in amuse, before quickly telling him, "You will! Just ask Liam to Winter Ball. It's as simple as that."

"You sure make it seem easy."

They smiled at each other for a while, both comfortable with the silence that had fallen over them.

"Really," Louis spoke up after a while, putting his hand on Zayn's leg to get his attention, "Thank you for looking out for me. I truly appreciate it. I care about you too, you know? So, if you ever feel like needing to talk to someone, I'll try to be as non-judging as possible."

"We both know that's impossible," Zayn answered, "But, you're welcome."

"Boo? Where are you? Why's the door wide open?"

Their conversation ended by a very loud Harry walking in. At least he had warned Louis before that he'd come a bit early, not that Louis had remembered, but still.

"Oh," Harry got out as he saw the two of them sitting that close on the couch, his smile faltering, Louis blushed before he quickly got up to hug his boyfriend.

"Hi, Haz," he kissed him on the cheek, "Looks like you're not the only one who couldn't wait for film night to begin."

Zayn too greeted him with an almost silent hello, suddenly feeling shy.

"Looks like it! Hi, Zayn!" Harry cheered, having regained the grin on his face, "Looks like I'll need to have a change of plans for how we'd fill in our pre film night time, now that we have an audience, unless you're into that."

Louis groaned at his bluntness, while the red blush on Zayn's cheek couldn't help but rising.

"But that's fine," Harry continued as cheery as before, "I rented a bunch of films at the local library –they do that now, did you know? So we can already chose, see what our preferences are."

"Yes, let's do that," Louis fondly looked up at him, loving to see him in a mood like this. His green eyes sparkling and the curls that peeked from under his headband, bouncing with every move he made. His beauty struck Louis once again.

"Come on Zayn," Louis said, "You can choose which action movie we'll see, I've already chosen the rom-com."

The two others groaned at that. But hey, it was only fair!

***

 

Niall and Liam joined them a bit later, letting the movie night finally take off. They ended up watching the first Captain America as well as We Bought a Zoo afterwards. Niall seemed the only one to really like the second one so the others participated in a lame game of throwing popcorn at each other, which quickly came to an and when Louis announced that they’d to clean it up too.

It was a lovely evening. Maybe even nicer than last time. Louis could feel it in his guts that they would become a good group of friends. Even if on the outside it seemed like they were five totally different persons, they oddly fit well. It almost felt like they’d created another, of course alphaless, pack. That’s how well they worked together.

So it was almost with a heavy heart that Louis eventually set them home, a bit after midnight. All but one of course.

“Alone at last,” Harry whispered in his ear, before mouthing at his neck, hugging Louis from the back. “Seeing you in those awful jeggings without being able to properly touch you all evening drove me crazy.”

Louis turned around to give him a decent kiss back. “I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a bit longer. I intend to shower first before going to bed, and no,” he said as he watched Harry trying to interrupt him, “You can’t join. My mum was already complaining about the water bill of last month.”

Harry pouted but quickly gave in. He knew from first-hand experience how long shower blow jobs could take and it would certainly require a lot of water. So he let him go and begged him to shower quickly.

“Be sure to clean out certain areas,” he added afterwards with a win, “I have plans for later.”

***

 

Louis had never showered as fast as that day, quickly applying shower gel all over his body and shampoo on his hair before profusely rinsing everything off, using a hand cloth to reach his armpits and butthole. After all, he’d promised to get certain areas clean.

With his hair still dripping and a towel around his middle, he waggled out of the bathroom, for only to be met with the sight of a stark naked Harry lying on his bed. His hands were put under his head, like he was lying on a beach chair, the only thing that gave him away was his half hard cock.

“You couldn’t wait to get naked, I see? And you’re half hard too already.” Louis teased as he crawled next to his boyfriend on the mattress

“What can I say. I was thinking of you, and of the things we could do.” He smiled viciously, before pulling at Louis’ neck to get him closer so he could finally reattach their mouths. Kissing Louis was the best feeling in the world. He would kiss Louis for weeks if he could. In fact, he would be perfectly fine with snogging Louis all night, but his dick didn’t share that idea, needing some release.

Harry removed the towel and threw it on the floor so Louis ended up as naked as he was.

“You smell so good,” He brought out, dragging his nose over the nape of his neck, letting the damp brown hairs there tickle him.

“Bought a new shower gel,” Louis panted, already out of breath, “It’s vanilla? I think?”

Harry made a pleasant noise, continuing his path of open mouthed kisses down, towards Louis’ chest. He could feel Louis’ cock harden beneath him when he finally reached the lad’s nipple and nipped at it playfully.

“Harry…” he brought out in a gasp, ready to beg for more. He didn’t even need to, because Harry immediately brought his hands down to play with the sensitive nubs, his mouth returning to its rightful owner, Louis’ lips. Louis answered with dragging his nails over Harry’s back just like how he knew the lad liked it.

“I’ve been thinking,” Harry stated after a good couple of minutes of snogging, sitting straight to take a good look at Louis’ lips, which were already red and raw.

“I wanted to try something new,” he continued.

“Is it the reason why I needed to clean my butthole?” Louis asked cheekily.

Harry just grinned at him and instead of answering he demanded, “Turn around on your tummy.”

Louis quickly obliged without questioning him, it showed how much he trusted his boyfriend. With his pointer finger, Harry followed the path of his spine. Seeing Louis pliant and putty beneath him did something to Harry, or well, to his cock to be precisely.

“Hands above your head and hold them still.” He commanded, whispering softly in his ear. A shiver ran over Louis’ spine, but he obliged anyway. Louis trusting him so much made his heart fill with warmth. Harry noted to himself they needed to talk about their sex life afterwards, asking Louis if he wanted to continue exploring the not-so-vanilla areas of sex.

He took his time admiring his love’s arse, the sinful curve of his bum, his two plump cheeks hiding his warm tight heath. After grabbing a pillow to raise Louis’ ass, giving him a more comfortable position, Harry felt like he could finally dive in.

Using his hands to spread the cheeks, he started with licking the skin around his hole, never really touching it. Louis was quick to respond, whining about Harry’s teasing, but he didn’t move. Circling his tongue around the hole, Harry finally got out a whimper out of him. And as he finally licked over the fluttering heath, Louis let out the dirtiest moan, not being used to having his hole played with like that. It almost felt better than getting fucked. He praised the gods for not having made him straight.

Harry spread his legs wider, so he could reach better, starting to really get a hang of it. Louis tasted amazing. He kept running his tongue over the tight heath, until he couldn’t wait any longer and prodded to get inside. Louis let out another breathy moan, his hands gripping the sheets with force.

His moans only got louder as Harry started to nip at his hole, occasionally blowing on it to get it even more sensitive. His hole was so wet and the slurping sounds Harry therefore created got Louis to almost come on the spot. He’d never deemed it possible to come without touching his dick, but right now he was very, very close.

Harry himself could feel that Louis' body started to tremble under his hands and he wriggled his tongue even deeper, getting him wet enough before pulling his tongue back out and plunging it in Louis again. Louis was writhing against him, trying to get as much as possible while making small mewls of pleasure.

“Harry,” Louis gasped, “please!”

Louis didn’t elaborate, but Harry knew perfectly what he was asking for, so he used one of his hands to keep the two butt cheeks spread, meaning he could use the other for a different purpose. When a long finger finally penetrated Louis’ hole, diving straight in to search for his prostate, Louis couldn’t help but let out a long moan. He stopped writhing, falling completely pliant, having surrendered.

Harry let out a groan himself, as he added a second finger, seeing the hole get stretched by his digits. Louis wasn’t the only one on the brink of coming as he could feel his own cock throbbing, smearing precome over his belly. The lad underneath him spread his legs out further and pushed his arse out, pushing back against Harry’s fingers to get them deeper. Harry didn’t have the heart to tell him to keep still this time.

“Harry, I need to come.” He moaned as Harry was thrusting his two digits in and out, right on his prostate, having the lad completely at his mercy. It was time to give Louis what he wanted.

Taking his fingers out and turning Louis around, Harry licked his hand and made quick work of grabbing his cock. He spread the abundance of precome over the slit, before jacking Louis off twice. The third time Louis came. It was with a load moan and splutters of warm come that almost hit his chin, showing just how hard he’d come.

When Louis was still coming from his high, Harry was already there with a flannel in his hand to clean him up, his own cock still hard and leaking against his abs. Louis tugged him closer and grasped Harry’s cock in both hands to get him off. The sight of his member looking even bigger in his small hands was what drove Harry over the edge. While he was coming, he found the time to suck a hickey in Louis’ neck, a cavemanlike instinct telling him to mark his mate. Afterwards he bragged the flannel to clean off himself.

Louis over at Harry and pulled him to his chest.  He dropped a kiss on his shoulder and the shell of his ear.  

"I love you so much, you know." Harry stated, looking at Louis like the stars were hidden in his eyes.

Louis turned his head slightly, so that he could catch look back at him.  "I do know.  And I love you too."  He squeezed the hand of Harry’s arm that's draped over his chest and clicks off the lamp.  They slide under the covers and snuggle even closer.

If monthly movie nights were going to be a thing than, monthly getting off’s after movie night, was also going to be a thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is there anyone willing to beta? Does anyone want to look over my story? please?


	9. IX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was looooooooooong overdue! Sorry. The person who wanted to bèta dien't answer anymore, so the charter is probably shirt.I had exams and had to get My license and went on holiday and writer's block and, I know, you don't want excuses. 
> 
> Thank you For everyone who reads It! I changes prop info Winter Hall, because apparently people don't have prop in December.
> 
> Next charter is when things Will finalllllllllly get down!!!!!!! 
> 
> This chapter is dedicated to all Ziam shippers

Louis couldn’t sleep. He kept tossing and turning in bed, thoughts running through his head like a swarm of bees. That wasn’t how nights like this usually ended, right? In movies people fell asleep right after they had sex. You never saw them lying awake for hours, eyes wide open and mulling over every aspect of their life. 

Well, in movies their boyfriend also wouldn’t leave ten minutes after the deed, which cannot be said about Harry, whom had got a text from Nick fucking Grimshaw, precisely ten minutes and fourteen seconds after his orgasm, telling him to come quote unquote _asap_.

“Harry, you promised we’d finally get one bloody night to ourselves!” Louis had cried out, not willing to hand over his boyfriend to Nick without a fight as he watched Harry rolling out of bed;

“I know, Boo. But this _really_ is an emergency. We haven’t heard from the creature in, like, ages and now it suddenly pops up again!”

“Then what have you been doing the past couple of days instead spending time with me and your other mates?” Louis huffed out, crossing his arms. He was annoyed by how much he resembled a housewife in her forties, crying because her husband worked too much.

“We were interviewing the victims who had been paralysed by it for a couple of hours. Trying to get to know the enemy. But unfortunately, they were all hit in the back so they couldn’t give us any useful information.” Harry explained, still keeping a calm voice as he didn’t like fighting with Louis all that much, and did everything to avoid it. He grabbed his clothes to get dressed again.

“Well then, if those people were only paralysed for a moment, not even really hurt, there’s no hurry to get the supernatural scum. You could stay here for just one night and go hunt again tomorrow.” Louis knew that he was being irrational, but he was tired, his head hurt and he just wanted to be with his boyfriend for one bloody night. Fucking shit. 

“Louis…” Harry almost looked disappointed. It was the worst look ever to see on him and made him feel terribly guilty. Louis even preferred him angry. Everything better than this. Utter disappointment. “The people need us. We have to protect them.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Lou-“ 

“No, listen. You don’t have to do anything. They have the police. It’s their job to protect the people, not yours. They’re qualified to do so and they get paid for it, while you’re just a student, not even eighteen years old.”

“But the police don’t know what they’re dealing with.” Harry walked out of the room, phone in his hand to text Nick. Louis followed him.

 “Oh, but you do?” He mocked.

“Lou,” he sighed, turning around just before the front door. “I don’t want to fight with you. I also don’t want to get out in the cold to look for the creature-“

“With Nick.” Louis added. 

“With Nick.” Harry rolled his eyes. “I would love to stay here with you all night, but I just can’t let this opportunity go. What if this was the time we caught it? I have a lot of responsibilities as a werewolf, as a _beta_ Louis. I wish one day you could come to peace with that fact.”

Louis just stood there, speechless, as he knew he’d lost a battle. A battle he hadn’t had a chance of winning in the first place. A battle he’d never win. He knew this, had known for a long time that Harry felt like their pack was the hero of the village, that he felt like they had duties. He knew. He just couldn’t stop disliking it. 

“I love you,” he brought out, trying to smile as he received a kiss on the forehead from Harry, before pulling him down to get a real one.

“Love you too, Lou.” Harry answered with a lopsided grin and pulled the door behind him. “I’ll see you in the morning at school.” 

Once again, he was annoyed by how much he looked like a middle aged woman, watching her husband leave to war while the kids were sleeping upstairs. But they weren’t married and they didn’t have kids. And, well, Harry wasn’t really gone to war, was he? 

While lying in bed Louis couldn’t help but wishing that this was the time they finally caught it, or at least came closer to the solution of catching the beast. At least some part of his troubles would be gone then. When he wasn’t so stressed all the time, he would probably do better at school and not have those head aches and hallucinations or whatever he had, anymore. Stress did weird things to people, right? He once had seen a TV show where someone had lost thirty pounds because of the stress at work.

He turned to lie on his back again. Why was it always Harry who had to leave to do cool supernatural stuff. Louis was so boring in comparison. The only cool thing about him was that he was dating Harry and trying to set up his best friend with someone. Oh, you could count the three times he woke up somewhere without remembering how to get there. But that was more lame and freakish than cool.

He obliged himself not to think about anything anymore and closed his eyes tightly. Thirty minutes later, he was finally asleep again.

 **

Before he knew it, it was Friday. Not just any Friday, of course. It was the last day of school before Christmas break, precisely one week before Louis’ birthday, but most importantly, it was the day of Winter Ball.

At first, Louis’ plan to ask Harry to Winter Ball had been to just ask him casually what he’d been planning to wear so their ties would match. It was simple, sneaky and effective. Wednesday evening he suddenly had a spontaneous burst of romance and took off to the closest flower shop to buy a single white lily, Harry’s favourite flower, getting there just a few minutes before closing time.

He’d brought it to school on Thursday so he could ask Harry when they met just before school started. To his surprise Harry had been standing there with a purple rose, which wasn’t Louis’ favourite flower because he obviously was too manly to have a favourite flower (later on Harry told him the flower represented love at first sight, which melted his heart. In a manly way, of course.) Laughing because they’d had the same idea, they kissed before hurrying to their locker to put their gifts away and Harry asked him what his thoughts were on matching bow ties.

It meant that Louis felt very at ease and relaxed on Friday, looking forward to Winter Ball so he could spend time with his friends and boyfriend, but not paying too much attention to it. This unfortunately could not be said about Zayn.

The normally calm lad, kept rambling at a speed of a hundred miles an hour, stressing about how he hadn’t asked Liam yet. His moods changed quickly from depressed because the other lad hadn’t asked _him_ already, changing into happy that the lad hadn’t asked _someone else_ either, then changing into angry, because he hated that he was too shy to get after him to ask. Afterwards he questioned every sentence the other lad had ever said to him and asked Louis if certain eye expressions meant someone wanted to bone you, or keep you in the friend zone till the end of time.

In the end Louis just told him to go for it and gave him another confidence boost causing Zayn to promise that he would ask Liam that day or he’d change schools with a glint of determination in his eyes, before leaving to class.

**

Louis didn’t get the chance to speak to Zayn again during the remainder of the day, his lunch hour filled with making out with Harry in the toilets and a new seating arrangement for the class he shared with Zayn preventing him to sit next to him. On one hand it was good, because Louis suffered from such a severe head ache that day, that he wasn’t really in the mood to hear Zayn rambling and rambling about his crush on Liam. On the other hand, he really wanted to know how it went.

Sure, Louis was a bit surprised when he was suddenly grabbed by his upper arm, as he was walking through the halls just after school ended, and dragged into the janitor’s closet, but in the end he was happy that he finally had the chance to talk to Zayn.

“Holy fuck mate, what are-“

“Hush.” Zayn commanded as he closed the door.

“Why the fuck are we in the janitor’s closet?” Louis whisper-yelled after Zayn had switched the lights on. “I’ve never really been in the closet, but I sure as hell don’t want to get back now.”

Zayn rolled his eyes at his lame joke, before watching Louis in an almost bouncy way. Zayn looked… different from his usual self. His cheeks were flushed, his eyes dilated, his mouth curved in a secret smile. He looked exciting? As his best friend, Louis had seen him in quite a number of different moods. Calm, most of the time. Sad. Happy. Concerned. Annoyed. Pining, if that was a look. This, trilling excitement, was completely new. The excitement was almost contagious as Louis felt his lips form the same expression.

“He did it Louis!” He whispered, beaming at him with sparkling eyes, when he couldn’t hold the anticipation anymore and the words rolled out of his mouth. “He did it!”

“Zayn, breathe. Breathe and then explain me who did what and why we’re here.” Louis commanded confused.

“Liam! We’re here because I don’t want him to hear me. It could scare him away.” Zayn smiled, and added immediately like he just couldn’t wait any longer. “Liam asked me to prom! Even before I had the chance to ask him. He asked me, boring old Zayn!”

“You’re not old and certainly not boring,” Louis answered, “But that’s amazing, Z! Give me all the dirty details!”

“I don’t know. We were just frisbeeing with P.E. And, like, I’m awful at frisbee. Can’t catch one to save my life. So I was a bit annoyed and mad with myself and then, just, out of nowhere. He comes standing next to me and asks me, like really casually, ‘Hey, any chance you would want to go to winter ball with me?’ and I’m too fazed to utter anything but a choked ‘yes’ and he’s like ‘Okay, cool. I’ll pick you up at eight.’ Afterwards he gives me his wonderful puppy smile that could probably end the war in Ukraine and takes off to make a heroic dive to save the Frisbee from falling to the ground and scores another point.”

“That’s amazing, I’m so happy for you!” Louis cried out, before taking the boy in his arms. He’d never been one to hug his friends all the time, but this was just too excited not to jump up and down with their arms around each other. It felt amazing seeing his friend so happy. It was everything he wanted to achieve by trying to set them up in the first place. Who’d known his plan would be so effective? He couldn’t wait to tell Niall and Harry about it.

At that moment, the door of the closet got pulled open and a stream of light blinded them. The intruder looked at them with one eyebrow pulled up, startled by the sight, mouth falling open as he wanted to comment, before closing again.

“Harry,” Louis brought out, releasing Zayn and taking a step to the side, bumping into a broom, “What are you doing here?”

“Shouldn’t I be the one to ask you that?” He smirked. “I was waiting for you outside, but you didn’t come so I followed your s- I mean I looked everywhere for you. Didn’t expect to find you in a closet, though.”

“Oh, well. I actually have to go home too and we were done here anyway, so yeah. See you later, Louis. Harry.” Zayn said, before Louis could speak up. He left after a small wave, a bounce still present in his walk.

“See you later, Zayn!” Louis called after him.

“So, do you still want to stay in that closet for some time, or can we also get going now?” Harry asked playfully.

“Well, I do know some things one could do in a closet?”

“Hush,” Harry took his hand, kissing the smirk off Louis’ face and pulling him out, “We could also do that in a much more comfortable place.”

Louis pouted in disappointment, but a grin soon took over as he imagined different kind of places they could make out, so he let himself be manhandled outside.

*

“Are you ever going to tell me why you and Zayn were hugging in the janitor’s closet?” Harry asked when they were outside.

“It’s no big deal, actually. Liam had asked him out to Winter Ball and Zayn, paranoid as he is, thought that if anyone could hear it would bring bad luck, or something. I’m not really sure myself. Who knows what goes on in that brain of his.” He shrugged.

“Oh, yes. I remember Liam mentioning he was planning to do so.”

Louis hit him on his shoulder, making Harry cry out in pain. “What did you do that for?” He cried out in surprise.

“For not telling me! This could’ve been gone way smoother if you’d told me before.” Louis groaned.

Harry answered, rubbing his shoulder. “‘m Sorry. Didn’t really think it was all that important to be honest.”

“Just be happy it worked out all right in the end.” Louis told him with a fake icy glare, before his face lit up again as he managed to come up with something. “Oh, I’m actually really looking forward to tonight. We could turn it into a double date and get dinner together first. Maybe Niall and his date could come too!” Louis brought up, looking like his plan was almost as great as the invention of paperclips.

“Oh, yes, Louis. About that, actually.” Harry furrowed his eyebrows. Louis didn’t trust that tone. It was the same way Harry spoke every time he had to tell bad news.

“What’s wrong?” Louis asked, suspicious, squinting his eyes.

“Just hear me out first, alright?” Harry pleaded. A quick nod was all he got in return.

“So,” Harry started, “Nick was on guard this morning and he told me he smelled the creature’s scent all over the place where Winter Ball’s gonna be held. And we both were thinking for quite some time that it must’ve been planning something, because he’d been on the down low. We both have a gut feeling that something’s gonna happen. Nick really should be there if it does, so we had a plan that he’d come with us and at the entrance would pretend to be my date, just to get in?” He ended his sentence in a questioning tone.

“You want to go to Winter Ball with Nick?”

“That’s not what I meant, Lou. Don’t put it like that. It’s just to get in.” Harry sighed.

“Yes, and who will he be hanging out with after we get in? Damn it, Haz. Does he really need to spoil every date of us? You already spend three time more time with him than with me. And tell me, why can’t he be someone else’s date?” Louis squinted his eyes.

“Because Liam, Niall, Josh and the girls already have a date and it’s just easier if he goes with me. We thought you'd be understanding. And besides, you have no room to talk. You’re always off and hugging with Zayn!” Harry yelled.

Louis’ head ache was getting out of control and Harry raising his voice wasn’t really helping. He just was so tired, so sick of all the fighting lately and he couldn’t even think straight anymore, couldn’t judge anymore if his opinions were reasoned. It was enough.

“You know what, Harry,” He spoke up calmly, done with his shit. “Just go to Nick, alright. I don’t care anymore.” And after that he walked away. He could Harry call after him, but fortunately he didn’t chase him. Either if he was too pissed to make up, or if he knew that Louis needed his distance. It didn’t matter, he was glad with the silence that came afterwards.

Picking up his pace, he decided to just walk the few miles home, not in the mood to go back to the bus station and take the same bus as Harry. He needed to clear his head anyway.

The throbbing pain in his head grew steadily. Massaging his temples, he damned himself for forgetting to bring some pain killers to school. On the other hand, lately pain killers didn’t seem to work on his body anymore. As he passed another corner, he suddenly noticed that he had no idea where he’d wandered off to. By the looks of it, he’d managed to get to the border of the village, just near the beginning of the woods.

He wanted to get back but was struck by a sudden feeling of dizziness, black spots filling his vision. Cursing, he stood there for a while, hoping it would go away. Unfortunately it only got worse. The edges of his sight blurred together, giving him some sort of hazy tunnel vision.

Discovered that he’d fallen to the ground, he looked up again, for only to notice that someone was walking out of the woods. As he came closer, he could see that the person was tall and dressed in all black from head to toe. A mop of curls surrounded his face like a halo.

“H- Harry?” He brought out weakly as the person crouched down not even three feet away. As soon as he’d said the words, he knew he was wrong. Harry didn’t smirk as vicious as this person, his eyes weren’t venom green, more like a soft mossy green. Something was wrong with him.

Louis felt too tired to say something again, let alone move. A hand cupped his jaw.

“Close, but not quite, princess.” He heard. Afterwards everything went black once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you dislike something or don't understand something, ask me. I have An explanation For every word I've written.


	10. X

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SO SORRY UNIVERSITY IS HARDER THAN I THOUGHT IT WAS BECAUSE THERES SO MUCH TO STUDY AND I DONT HAVE A DORM THIS YEAR SO I TRAVEL MORE THAN THREE HOURS A DAY. On the good news my exams are finally over so I have a break of a week.
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you to everyone who reads this story and sorry for the shittyness of this chapter

“He’s gone!” Niall shouted as he barged in, cheeks red from running. He slumped against the door, hands on his knees to catch his breath. “He’s literally nowhere to be found.”

Harry and Nick hurried over, the maps of the town lying long forgotten on the kitchen table as they sensed their mate’s panic.  His skin was as white as a sheet; eyes frantic while his state of panic seemed to get worse with the minute.

“Breathe, Niall. And who’s gone?” Harry asked, trying to calm the blond down, pulling a chair towards them so he could sit. “Take a calm breath first, please.”

“It’s Louis.” And then he told him something Harry had hoped he’d never hear. “He’s gone.”

“What do you mean he’s gone?” Harry shook his shoulders, calm demeanour long forgotten. The blond boy couldn’t just drop bombs like that without explaining.

“He’s gone. Nowhere to be found.” Niall repeated with a hopeless sigh, and then finally elaborated, “I went to his house to talk to him. Because I know you’ve been a dick to him about winter ball tonight –Don’t deny it Harry- hoping I could cheer him up and convince him to join our small group pizza date gathering before winter ball. But then he wasn’t at home, and it smelled like he hadn’t been there since this morning. He also wasn’t at school, or near my house, yours or even Zayn’s. I couldn’t trace his scent anywhere. He’s gone! Just vanished. And I didn’t know what to do anymore so I came here.” Tears were shimmering in the corners of his eyes. He looked up at Harry and Nick, hoping his alpha and beta would know what to do. They always had a solution to anything.

“He… What?” Harry stammered, Niall’s panic having infected him. “We have to find him! Niall, call up the other wolves of the pack. Nick, grab your coat. We’re having a search party. I won’t sleep till we’ve found him.”

“Harry.” Nick grabbed his arm, halting his tumultuous movements, “The winter ball starts in two hours. We can’t let this chance go to finally grab the bloody creature.”

“Every time we find some sort of trace you persuade me to come with you; to leave Louis. Every time you say this is our chance. It has never been our chance. Hell, it might never be. I _have_ to find Louis. He means the world to me. I won’t put him second any longer. The last time I did it ended in us having a major fight, which was also the last time I’ve seen him. I don’t want that to be the last time I’ve ever seen him. I don’t want the last thing I ever said to him to be an accusation of him cheating on me with Zayn. You might be my alpha. But I swear I’ll leave the pack if you don’t let me go search him right the fuck now.”

“You’re right.” Nick sighed defeated. He’d had high hopes for today, but deep down he knew they would’ve gotten disappointed once again.  “We were probably not going to see even a bit of the creature. Let’s go.”

“I tried to call them, but no one’s answering their phone, so I texted them instead. I’m almost sure Liam won’t look at his phone till the morning, because he’s with Zayn.” Niall informed them.

“Well stay together. I don’t want anyone else to get lost.” Nick announced as they put their first steps outside, half-shifting so his ears and fangs came out, as well as the improvement of his senses. It was dark outside, being winter and all, and there weren’t that much people outside, so no one would notice.

“Harry, Niall where was the last time you saw Louis?”

“Just outside the school.”

 

 

*

 

It felt odd, Louis thought. Numb. And dark. if that even was a feeling. Everything went by slowly, although sharp flashes cleared the space once every while. He had fallen in some sort of half-conscious.

Was this how dying felt? Or was he already dead? He didn’t know. He didn’t even know where his body was. As if he was trapped in his own mind while his other senses were blocked. If he actually was dying, shouldn’t he be following a white light? Or shouldn’t his life be playing in front of his eyes like a film?

A particular scene of a book series he’d liked when he was younger, caught his attention. It was in the last book of The Sage of Darren Shan. After Darren had died his soul went to the Lake of Souls, where his senses were gone too, but his mind was still clear, he could only think. Louis remembered how the lad decided to only think of the good memories of his childhood, until someone got his soul out to give him one last chance to get into their heaven. Was this where Louis was now? Should he do that too?

Oh, god. If he had died, he couldn’t imagine how his mum would handle it. His sisters. Even his lame excuse of a step dad who didn’t seem to care much about anything besides his work. They didn’t deserve their life to be completely fucked over by losing their son, brother.

Nor did his friends, or Harry. Harry, his boyfriend whom he loves so, so,  _so_ dearly but had numerous fights with recently. He couldn’t believe that the last time he’d seen him had been when they’d parted after a fight. Louis wished the last words he had told him would have been  _I love you_ , that they represented his love for Harry, but unfortunately they hadn’t been so kind. If he ever did get out of this half-conscious mode, he vowed to tell Harry a million times that he loved him. After all, he did, with all his heart. He missed him already, feeling a blooming longing for the lad in the place where his chest must be.

At least he could be grateful to have known him, to have had the pleasure of being part of Harry’s life. It had been a long way to where they were now, from disliking him, to getting friends and ending in lovers. He decided to do just as Darren Shan and thought about happy memories. The story of how he’d met Harry

It all started when Louis’ childhood best friend fell ill and had to be brought to the hospital, when they were about fifteen year’s old. Well, Niall wasn’t just ill, as adults liked to say, trying to mask the word by using an euphemism. Being ill was like having the flue, or a bit worse, getting mono and having to stay in bed for two weeks until your immune system had chased the viruses out of your body.

Niall wasn’t just ill, he was dying. A fact that was true, but that adults desperately tried to make them forget. His body was killing himself.  _Leukeamia_ , Louis had heard his mother whisper in the phone one evening, before he went upstairs to google the terrible disease.

 **Leukemia**  ([American English](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences)) or  **leukaemia**  ([British English](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English)) [/](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English)[l](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key)[uː](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key)[ˈ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key)[k](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key)[iː](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key)[m](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key)[iː](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key)[ə](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key)[/](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English)[[1]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leukemia#cite_note-1) is a group of [cancers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer) that usually begins in the [bone marrow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_marrow) and results in high numbers of abnormal [white blood cells](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_blood_cell).[[2]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leukemia#cite_note-2) These white blood cells are not fully developed and are called [ _blasts_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precursor_cell) or  _leukemia cells_.

So that was the verdict: Cancer.

Louis visited his friend as much as possible, bringing Niall a Gameboy and the latest Pokémon game as well as trying to let him let out his characteristic smile, by telling dumb jokes. They watched stupid cartoons on the muted telly and Louis told him the latest gossip from school. It was easy like that to forget Niall was ill when they were talking and joking, until his eye fell again and Louis noticed how pallid he looked, white as a sheet. Or when the nurse ushered him away after an hour as Niall’s eyes fell close from exhaustion.

The many treatments looked promising, but seemed to just worsen it in the end. Days turned into weeks, eventually turning into months and it didn’t matter how much Louis prayed and hoped. Niall just got worse and worse. His mother looked almost as bad as him, exhausted and crying all the time as her son was slowly slipping through her fingers. Niall almost stopped smiling all together, only giving watery smiles as Louis tried to fruitlessly cheer him up.

One day, when Louis had just returned from school to pay Niall another visit, he saw that the blond already enjoyed the company of a tall, curly haired lad Louis vaguely recognised from school. The two were talking with hushed voices. It was odd, because Niall’s other friends from school hadn’t bothered to visit him for ages and, well, Louis didn’t even know the curly haired was even friends with Niall to begin with. Sure, Niall should have been one of the most social people he knew, but the other lad was always hanging with the same three boys, trying to keep to himself as much as possible.

_“It’s not that much of a risk. I’m dying anyway!”_

Louis could hear the blond say, before the two noticed his presence in which Niall quickly shut up. Subconsciously, Louis knew that Niall couldn’t have much more to live as his situation just got worse every time, but still, the d-word made chills run over his back and an overwhelming feeling of sadness ran through his veins.

 _“We’ll speak again after the weekend.”_ The other lad spoke up, before fleeing, paying no attention to Louis.

“Who was that?” Louis asked, as he walked inside the room and took a seat next to Niall’s bed.

“Oh, that was Harry. He volunteered to read to the kids today and he thought of paying me a visit as he had heard of my condition.”

“Oh, okay.” It still seemed fishy, mainly their last words that Louis had managed to overhear, but he decided not to attack Niall with questions. It would be sort of a selfish act. So he opened his bag and took a small box out of it.

“ _Zelda: Ocarina of Time_  was on sale, so I thought why not. You wanna try it?” He asked with a big smile.

“This much prezzies is definitely the best perk of having cancer!” Niall cheered. Louis surely admired his optimism. He himself would be drowning in depression, he thought, if he suffered through the same as Niall currently did. Maybe it was just his way of coping with it.

The played on the Nintendo for an hour until the nurse chased Louis away again, trying to get Niall to rest some more.

One day it looked like Niall could die any moment, and the next time Louis visited, he almost looked as good as new. The colour had returned to his cheeks and his eyes had turned from a dull grey to a lively blue again.  _It’s a miracle_ , Maura told Louis with tears in her eyes but a smile on her face.  _The doctor said that the latest hematopoietic stem cell transplantation must’ve finally taken!_  Niall cheered, his voice loud as before.

There was something not right about it. Louis had known Niall for practically all his life, so surely he noticed the special tone he used and the flicker of his eyes when he lied as he told Louis what the doctor had said. But he didn’t want to think it over too much. His best friend was finally healthy again. He finally got Niall back. He couldn’t be happier.

Only a week later, Niall was released from the hospital and one week after that, he was already allowed to attend school again. A miracle indeed. Everything went back to normal. More or less.

Niall wasn’t himself anymore. He got awful mood changes, when he looked like he wanted to claw Louis’ eyes out or worse if he said the wrong thing. He also got distant, never hanging out with Louis after school anymore, always finding stupid excuses until Louis stopped asking all together. Even at school he seemed to carefully measure his time spending time with Louis as the brown haired lad often saw him talking with the curly haired, someone he didn’t even acknowledge before.

It was fine, everyone had their own coping system and as avoiding Louis was Niall’s and that way he would get over the trauma of having beaten leukaemia then so be it. It wasn’t like Louis didn’t have other friends. No one he was as close with as with Niall, of course, but he had Stan, and Hannah and Aiden sometimes.

But as time flew by, Niall only got even more distant. Louis would look at Niall from across the hallway with nothing but a feeling of missing. So one moment he decided he’d had enough of it and went to confront Niall with it. When school was out, he came after Niall to talk to him.

“Niall!” Louis shouted as he didn’t seem able to catch up. When had the boy learnt to walk so quickly? His shout only seemed to spur him on.

“Niall!” Louis screamed again, huffing when he noticed Niall didn’t seem like stopping any time soon. So he quickened his own pace and, almost running, finally reached him.

“Niall.” He breathed, pulling at his arm to provoke a reaction out of him. “Can we talk?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t. Gotta go.” The blond answered, trying to get away again. Even though Louis grabbed his arm, Niall just walked on, tugging the shorter lad with him.

“For God’s sake, Niall!”

“Just let me alone, Lou!” He hissed venomous. And that’s when Louis knew something really was wrong. Niall never hissed. He was a bundle of sunshine and rainbows and smiley faces and there were no snakes involved.

“No, I won’t! Something’s clearly off. You’ve been avoiding me and you’re behaving different. So we’re having a chat.” Louis has finally managed to make him halt again.

It was interesting to see the cascade of emotions on Niall’s face. The anger seemed to disappear in a second, followed by a heartbroken sadness, before his jaw set and indifference took over.

“Don’t be mad that I’ve got other friends. God, Lou, our friendship wasn’t healthy. We were too dependent on each other. It’s normal that I wanted a little space to breathe.”

“You know that’s not the real reason and you’re lying now. This isn’t wanting space, this is getting rid of me. And I demand an explanation.” Louis pointed his finger at him.

He shouldn’t have said that. Fury painted Niall’s eyes again and he almost growled his next words Niall’s mood changes were worse than his mum’s during her pregnancies!

“Just leave me the fuck alone, Lou.”

Louis crossed his arms, stood a bit wider and with a sassy and assertive undertone he spoke up. “No.”

Never in a million years would Louis have expected what happened next. As Niall continued growling, his squinted eyes turned yellow, claws broke out his fingers and furry ears sprouted out in between his blond locks.

“Niall?” He stuttered, a lot less courageous than before. He pinched himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, but no, this hairy, growling version of Niall, almost a wolf now, was stood in front of him. He hunched forward like a predator ready to attack his prey. Louis cursed inwardly as he understood just how accurate that comparison was.

As he took a careful step back, furry-Niall seemed to take that as his cue to leap to him. At the same time a darker human-wolf, jumped from the side and took him down in the middle of the air, the fell down, tumbling over one another as they fought before Louis’ feet. He shrieked, voice higher than he’d wish, and promptly fell on his bum as he tried to move backwards. Not one, but two wolf men now?

The two wolves were rolling on the ground, growling and snapping at each other, but it was clear who had the upper hand in their little fight. The dark brown wolf eventually bit the blond wolf in the nap of his neck. He completely stilled and turned putty, whining. The other wolf let him go, nudging him for a last time, before the blond wolf took off.

The dark brown wolf, fur longer than Niall’s had been, turned is head back at Louis, intelligent green eyes looking him up and down, before it too took off.

And well, a couple of days later, Niall talked to Louis and explained everything. He let Louis in in the mysterious second world, the paranormal one. He told him how he had been dying and that Harry Styles had come to him giving him another option, a chance to live again. He told Louis how it had been cool to have better senses and a stronger, faster body but that it was hard to adjust to his inner wolf and how he didn’t want to endanger his friend and thus avoided him all together. He also told Louis how it had been the day before a full moon when Louis’d confronted. And lastly, he told him how deeply sorry he was and that he hoped that he could ever forgive him.

Louis just told him that he’d almost lost Niall twice, so that if the blond would do it a third time to him, he’d kill him. He still gave him a hug though.

Even though Louis knew that Harry had saved Niall’s life, he still didn’t take a liking to him, deep down still blaming him for taking Niall away from him before. He did learn about the pack and its members from Niall and even hung out with them to please his friend, but that was as far as it got. No, it wasn’t until the situation with the rogue wolf that Louis ended up really seeing the curly haired. Harry.

If it hadn’t been for the rogue wolf, that had bitten Liam and ended up near Louis’ present the next day, he’d never have truly acknowledged him. Harry wouldn’t have saved him, once again might he add, and he wouldn’t have felt the drive to repay him with dinner. He wouldn’t have known how pretty Harry’s eyes shimmered as he spoke about his passion for music, he wouldn’t have learnt about the crush that Harry had had for him for three years already, and he surely wouldn’t have kissed him afterwards.

He wouldn’t have got to have all those beautiful memories of the two of them together. Maybe he wouldn’t even have experienced love for the first time. It hurt already thinking of not having him in his life. If Louis even was alive. And it killed him even more to know that the last words that he told him weren’t those of love.

The pang in his heart filled him and seemed to take him out of the drowning state he’d been in, dissolving the dark, packed smoke around him.

“ _Louis.”_

_“Louis, please honey, I know you’re in there.”_

_“Loubear?”_

_“I love you.”_

He found his body back, instantly followed by an excruciating pain in his stomach.

 


	11. XI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't even begin to say how much of a loser I am for taking so long over this chapter.  
> Just, this chapter wouldn't be there without people having commented on the last chapter!! Thank you all. You've given me the strength to finally finish this (short) bitch of a chapter! But here it is!  
> I hope that you like it!!! It was sooooo hard to write and I have no idea if I'm happy with it, actually.  
> I'm not going to make any promises, but I hope the next one won't take as long hahaha!

“So, this is where you last saw him?” Nick questioned.

“Yes, and he walked that way.” Harry pointed at the direction he’d seen Louis leaving.

Nick sniffed the air a couple of times, before taking in a large gulp of air. “I caught a faint trace of his scent and indeed, it leads us that way.”

“Huh,” Niall fussed, parroting Nick’s actions, “I can’t smell a thing!”

“That’s because of my advanced alpha senses, Niall. Yours isn’t as strong as mine. We’ve been over this ages ago.” He ruffled the blond’s hair in a brotherly way and proceeded in the direction where Louis had gone too. The two other werewolves quickly following him.

He leads them through a couple of streets, houses getting smaller as they drifted away from the centre of the town, ending up near the edge of the woods. Nick froze. He sniffed a couple of time, eyebrows scrunched.

“Boys,” He mumbled, his tone getting higher as if he was uncertain, “Take a sniff yourself and tell me who this is.”

Harry and Niall instantly filled their lungs with air, breathing through their nose. They too got confused expressions on their face real fast.

“Well?” Nick inquired.

“I think I,” Harry started, taking another sniff to see if he had it right. Could it be? “I think I faintly smell the creature? I thought we were following Louis’ trace?”

“We were.” Nick answered darkly.

“What? So Louis’ scent just disappeared and changed into the creature’s scent? Is Louis the-“Niall started to shake.

“No.” Nick interrupted. “Yes, Louis’ scent vanished, and yes, I can smell the creature too.”

“But?” Harry pushed impatiently.

“But, I can smell Louis’ scent coming from here,” He pointed to where they came from, “And the creature’s scent coming from there,” he pointed a little bit to the eastern side of the woods. “What peculiar is, is that I can only sense the creature leaving that way.” He made a gun of his fingers and pretending shooting towards the south-eastern part of the woods.

“So, like, he _ate_ Louis?”

“Niall! This is not a time for joking!” Harry hissed at the blond, before turning back towards Nick. “What do you think happened?”

“I honestly have no idea. I do propose we follow the third scent. Maybe we’ll get an answer to your question sooner than we think.”

Nick went off and they followed them, as the trace got stronger and stronger, Harry finally got to follow his nose rather than Nick’s. The woods got denser, trees more packed and soggy mud tainting their shoes. He thought it couldn’t be far anymore because the scent got very strong.

They were focused only on their nose, practically turning off their other senses, which is probably why they hadn’t heard or seen him coming. Harry only noticed it, too late, when Nick and Niall fell to the ground like lump sacks of potatoes. Strong arms locked him in their hold.

 _Fuck, fuck. What was happening?_ Panicking, Harry made good use of the adrenaline in his blood to try and get out of the chokehold, but it was effortless. There were hands, if he could call it hands, covered with scales and ending in claws, ripping his clothes where they were holding him. _For heaven’s sake, what was this_? It didn’t have a smell, had made his mates pass out in the blink of an eye and it was stronger than a bloody grizzly bear.

“Let go of me!” He begged still struggling to get out of the iron grip.

“Oh, but Harry. The fun part hasn’t even begun yet.

He looked up. An almost exact copy of himself stood in front of him, evil glint in acid green eyes and an arrogant smirk plastered on his face.

“Who the fuck are you and why do you look like me? What did you do to my friends?” Niall and Nick still lied motionless on the ground. Breathing got harder as Harry’s panic increased. He had no idea what to do, but make the… thing, his reflection, keep talking.

“Huh, isn’t there something missing to your plea? Why haven’t you asked me about your little friend so far? He’s the reason that you’re all here, innit?”

Harry’s eyes widened in realization “What did you do to Louis?”

He laughed exuberant, “You should be asking instead, what is _he_ doing to _you_.”

That gave Harry only more questions than answers. What did he mean? How could Louis be doing something to him, when he wasn't even present? Louis had completely disappeared for Christ’s sake. Who knew where the boy was and how could he possibly be doing something that was affecting Harry at that moment?

Harry’s doppelganger hissed at the thing that was holding Harry, almost as giving an order, because immediately the creature behind Harry roused in action, tugging him along towards the nearest tree, not with much tenderness.

He was pushed with his back against a tree, his arms held tightly and secured together at the other side of it with a rope. Afterwards another, thicker rope was bound around his upper body, making sure there was no way to escape.

“Now, aren’t you curious as to know who has paralysed your friends? Who has lied to you, kept things from you and now captured you? Who has been terrorizing this pathetic village as of lately?” He gestured towards the thing that had bound Harry.

The reptile came back to twin-Harry, standing next to him and giving real Harry a better look. It was the size of a person, covered in scales with a long scaly tail and long claws that had a green liquid dripping of off them. And its eyes. Its eyes were a bright yellow shining brighter than a torch.

“Oh, Harry.” He tutted, shaking his head. “It’s true, his eyes are different, and the scales and tail probably weren’t there either before, but. Don’t you even recognise your own boyfriend?”

“Louis!” Harry cried out, squirming as he tried to get out of the strong hold of the rope. “What have you done to him, you monster.” He screamed, his vision getting a red hue of the hatred he currently felt towards his doppelganger.

He got a smirk as answer.

“I must confess, I’m still a bit disappointed that my predictions came true that you had absolutely no idea of my existence. Anne sure knew how to keep a dirty secret.”

“What has my mother have to do with this? And bloody tell me what you did to Louis!” Harry cried out, enraged. He’d never been as furious.

The other one tutted again, shaking his head. “Oh, dear Harry. You’re a bit tardy aren’t you? _Our_ mother. My name is Edward Styles.”

Harry could feel the blood run from his face. Everything felt surreal all of a sudden. Like he was trapped in some dream –no nightmare. Or a science-fiction novel.

“Now that shut you up, huh.” His twin spoke up, smiling viciously. “Don’t worry, though. Before I’ll get rid of you, I’ll tell you the story. I will tell you what Anne, your mother, our mother, so badly wanted to forget. What she so badly wanted to keep from you. How it was cute at first, that she both named us after our two grandfathers and how your second name now probably reminds her every time she sees it, of the son she cruelly abandoned.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“You don’t have to. Just wonder how it’s possible that I look just like you? That I know our birthday is February first? That our blood group is O+? How were both called after our two grand-fathers? I could go on and on if you want. I don’t even care if you believe me. Although, if you want to know what’s going on with your precious boyfriend, I would listen carefully.”

Harry threw him a dirty look. He hated him with a passion. He quickly checked on Louis, who was standing stoic next to Edward. Scales and tail still present and his eyes dead as the pet rabbit Harry got when he was five.

Edward tapped his chin a few times, eyes unfocused. “What exactly have you been told about your father.” He started.

“That he was an arsehole and a drunk who left mum when she got me.” Harry spit out after a while, involuntarily.

“That answer doesn’t surprise me.” Edward sighed. “However, it’s incorrect.” He came a bit closer towards Harry. “Let me paint a picture. It was a beautiful February morning in 1994 and a husband and his wife just became the proud parents of a pair of beautiful, male twins. The parents and the mother’s conservative werewolf grandparents, couldn’t be more ecstatic. However, everything changed when the two pups started to change for the first time. One of them showed perfect wolf fur, but the other, the other got covered in scales from top to bottom.” He stops for a bit to take a shuddering breath, his eyes fixed on nothing as he’s trying to regain his calm.

He continued. “Now I know that there’s nothing wrong with being a kanima. Just a slight mutation of the werewolf gene. Back then, they didn’t try to look it up. Our grandparents thought I was a monster that should be killed. And our mother might not be that cruel towards her own spawn, she still couldn’t bare the sight of me, nor the disgrace that her parents felt. That caused our parents to slip. Mother staying here with you, giving you a loving life, and our father taking me with him, forever blaming me for breaking the two of them up and therefore ruining his life. He soon lost his job and used alcohol to try cope, which caused him to get violent towards me. He eventually passed away last year because of alcohol abuse.”

He got an evil grin on his face, getting closer and closer to look Harry straight in the eyes. “Now my time has come. I’m finally taking back what was supposed to be my life. I’ve practised with borrowing Louis from you, but when I’ve finally taken care of you, I can pretend to be Harry Styles for the rest of my life and get the perfect life back I was promised when I was born without anyone noticing.”

Harry spit in his face. He still couldn't comprehend what was actually happening. Everything felt so surreal at the moment. The only thing he knew was that he needed to get away from here as soon as possible and take Louis with him. Only. He didn’t exactly know how yet. So he did the only thing he’d learnt from watching cartoons all of his life and tried to make his evil twin brother keep talking.

“If you were only out after me, why’d you terrorise the village for months on before getting to me?” Harry grumbled.

Edward smirked back, obviously finding joy in the way Harry was struggling with the rope that tied him to the tree. “There’s no fun going directly to you. I had to get your attention. I wanted to make you scared. ‘s Why I eventually started to mess with Louis’ head. That was a true blast. Too bad, he didn’t come crying to you for help though. Maybe he doesn’t care for you as much as you do for him.”

“Don’t talk about him like that!” Harry cried out. “Tell me instead what you’ve done with him."

Edward brought a hand up before his face like he was inspecting it, turning it around as he looked at it from different angles. It slowly started to change. Scales began to litter his skin and long claws formed where once his nails were.

“The thing about kanima’s is that were just the same as werewolves, but still a bit different. A bit better.” He smiles wickedly. “For once, we have venom on our claws that can paralyse our prey, like Louis did to your friends.” Just at that moment a drop of green oosy liquid falls down from the claw of his index finger. “However, more important for you at the moment, is the difference between people we turn. When werewolves turn people, they become almost their equals. When Kanima’s turn people, they become their slave. I can make Louis turn and then do whatever the fuck I’m feeling letting him do.”

With one flick of a –once again human finger, Louis, still covered in scales, came over to him.

“Watch.” He smirked, before cupping Louis’ neck and pulling their lips together in a heated snog.

And Harry. Well. He lost it. Screamed out and struggled even harder to get free. He saw absolutely red. He wanted to fucking kill that bastard if he thought that he could harass Louis like that.

Edward started to laugh out loud. “Oh, you’re so predictable, brother. I knew this would get you going.” When he regained his calm, his face looked the most serious Harry’d seen it in the short time he’d known his twin. Edward then continued. “Luckily there are other things that I can let Louis do. Like taking care of you. This has taken long enough now.”

He claped twice in his hands for show and Louis made his way over to Harry. The look in his eyes just as death as before. The scales on his skin still as green. The tail still as long.

It didn’t take him long to get there. And this is the time Harry actually got scared shitless, frightened for his life. He saw this Louis person in front of him, but he actually couldn't find anything of his boyfriend back in this creature that was standing in front of him, dead eyes looking straight back.

“Louis?” He spoke up, voice trembling.

“Thought it would be nice to let your own boyfriend kill you by his bare hands. Louis’ guilt afterwards will only make this even better.” Edward said, just as Louis placed his hands around Harry’s neck, carefully making sure that none of his claws break his skin so he wouldn’t be paralysed.

“Louis.” Harry pleaded, as the hands around his neck become tighter. He’d finally stopped struggling against the rope. His only way out was trying to make Louis come back. The real Louis. His Louis.

“Louis, please honey. I know you’re in there.” He begged, trying to look for Louis’ soul in his eyes. Or just looking for something. The hands get tighter.

“Loubear?” He pleaded with a small voice, his breath almost gone because of the grip.

And. Was that a glimpse of blue spreading in his eyes? A twitch in Louis’ hands? Yes, it was! Harry could breathe more easily again as he watched a frown form on Louis’ eyebrows. He’d found hope again.

“I love you.” He tried.

But his hope soon vanished as Louis’ eyes became acid-coloured once again, his grip even tighter around Harry’s neck. This was it. He tried mouthing Louis’ name once more, but it was to no avail. Edward had won.

After terrorizing the village, fucking with the packs’ head, and making Louis his slave, he’d won. Harry’s final thoughts went out to his family, his friends, and. Of course. How much he loved Louis.

_Snap!_

In one movement he was freed from the rope. He saw Louis lying in front of him. The first thing he notices is that Louis had got his own appearance back. The second thing, Louis clutching his stomach while red blood quickly spread from it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all recognised the Teen Wolf kanima  
> Please, PLEASE! give me your thoughts. :) 
> 
> tumblr: theshipofhope.tumblr.com


	12. XII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's called the hospital chapter for obvious reasons.  
> Again sorry for posting late, uni life etc.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

What was that annoying sound? Every beep felt like a drill boring a new hole in his already aching head.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Did he even have an alarm clock in his possession that made a noise that irritating? He tries to wake up to turn the thing off, but even just thinking of only lifting his eye lids was a task that he found almost unbearably laborious.

He let himself fall into another slumber as the noise of the beeping faded out, this sleep just as dreamless as the previous one.

When he woke up again he felt just that tiny bit stronger. Strong enough to want to tear off the thing stuck beneath his nose as he blinked with his eyes that weren’t used yet to the bright light. He managed to get hold of the muscles in his right arm, and lifted the limb to were his nose should be. His fingers got hold of a –was that a plastic tube? Anyway, it should disappear, so he took hold of it and ripped–.

“Louis, honey, don’t do that.” His mum’s voice told him, while something swatted his arm away from his nose. And, yes, as Louis’ eyes adjusted to the light they could make out the silhouette of his mum sitting next to his bed.

Wait, why was he lying in a strange white bed? What happened to him? Why was his mother wearing her nursing uniform? And why did it hurt so much to breathe?

“Mum?” He attempted to speak, but all that got out was a rough groan, before he erupted in a cough, which made his thorax just hurt so much more.

“Hush, Loubear. Here drink some water.” She held up a cup to his mouth and urged him to carefully take a sip from the clear liquid. Nothing had ever felt as good as the water currently felt to his throat. His mum was a godsend.

“What happened?” He got out, as soon as he deemed it possible to speak.

“You were in the woods with Harry and got attacked by a wolf, honey.” She said, brushing away his hair from his eyes. “You lost a lot of blood and gave everyone quite the scare. The doctor will come to explain everything later on, I’m sure, but you’re going to be alright and that’s what’s important. You’re lucky Harry got you to the hospital in time.”

It was then that Louis was aware of the sleeping boy in the chair a bit further from the one his mum sat in. Harry could impossibly lying comfortably there as his neck was bend in an unusual way.

“He’s been here the whole time.” His mum explained. “You managed to catch him at the time he finally gave out from exhaustion and collapsed. I can’t believe he made it so far, to be honest.”

“So far? How long have I been here, then?”

“Three days, Lou.” She told him as tears sprung in her eyes. “They had to keep you in a coma for a bit as they weren’t even sure first you’d make it. But don’t worry about that anymore. You’re here and you’re alive and that’s all that matters now, okay.” She kissed him on the head, before staring at him with a watery smile. It hurt to see his mother so tired and sad. It hurt that he did that to her.

A beeping noise inside her pocket, made his mother jump up and take a look at her watch.

“My shift is about to start, Lou. So, I’m afraid I’ll have to go. I’ll be here again during my lunch break. And nan will come bring the girls some time later today. Also a doctor is bound to check up on you any time now.” She sighed, taking his hand, the one that wasn’t penetrated by a needle for his infuse. “Will you be alright?”

“Yeah, sure. Good luck with work, mum.”

She seemed to hesitate leaving, but after another watery smile decided to take off, closing the door of his solo hospital room after her.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Harry jumped up from his previous sleeping position and dragged his chair along with him as he got as close to Louis as humanly possible, one hand fluttering over his forehead, hair, neck, as the other took his arm and brought it to his mouth so he could give small kisses to it.

“How are you feeling?” He asked concerned.

“I thought you were sleeping?” Louis answered instead.

“Don’t waste your breath on me. Does it hurt? Does your stomach hurt?”

“Yeah, a bit actually. Especially when I breathe. I don’t even want to think what pain laughing might actually cause, but as long as you tell me some knock knock jokes, I think it might be okay.”

Harry wasn’t listening anymore, he carefully folded the white sheet back so the Louis’ bandaged stomach saw daylight. Holding his hand above it, slightly resting on the wound, Harry closed his eyes as he tried hard to focus. The veins in his hands got pitch black as at the same time the dull pain in Louis’ stomach disappeared.

Louis sighed in relief. “So you finally learnt that pain-sucking trick?” He breathed, but his words were slurred by the endorphin release Harry’s action caused.

“Yeah. Apparently, holding your nearly dying boyfriend in your arms makes you discover some sick werewolf tricks.” He laughed dryly, the sadness in his eyes giving away his true emotions.

“What happened, actually?” Louis asked then. “I can’t remember shit. Mum said, I was attacked by a wolf? Real-life, or werewolf?” He questioned.

“It’s a long story.” Harry sighed. “Maybe it’s better if I tell you, when you’re feeling better.”

“Fuck that shit. I want to know now, for God’s sake!” He cringed as his wound throbbed because of his movements.

“Alright, I will. I will.” Harry hushed him. “Just stay calm, alright?”

“Just tell me.” Louis pouted. “I hate being in the dark like this.”

So Harry did. He told him everything that he knew. Everything that had happened.

 

***

 

“Then I tried to kill you!?”

“No, love. You didn’t. He made you try to kill me.”

“He? You mean your twin brother. Fuck, I can’t even wrap my head around the fact that you have a _brother_. And that I’m a. You know. Green lizard.” Louis pulled his nose up. He felt so dirty. He tried everything not to think too much of the idea that he could lose control anytime and start to murder Harry again.

“So what happened then?” Your twin changed his mind and wanted me dead instead?

“No, not exactly.” Harry sighed, holding Louis’ hand tighter in his own. His eyes were fixed on the part of Louis’ bandaged chest that was peeking out from his hospital gown. “A kanima’s paralysing venom doesn’t work as well on alpha’s apparently. Nick broke out of it, wolfed out, and. And he. He tried to get you away from me I guess. And Edward made you change back suddenly, probably because he was shocked that Nick had gone free. So yeah.”

Louis was gob-smacked. He tried to be angry at Nick for almost killing him, but he couldn’t fathom it. If he had to be honest, he’d probably do the same if that meant that harry would be safe and sound. When Louis tuned in again, it was to notice that Harry actually hadn’t stopped talking yet.

“… I know that human skin has no chance against wolf claws. It’s like a knife cutting butter. But I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to forgive him. You almost _died!_ I should’ve trust me when you told me he was trouble. Like I’ve known him all my life, but apparently I don’t ‘cause– “

“What happened next?” Louis cut him off.

“I think Nick took care of _him,_ captured him, and the others came to help him after he howled. And I. I did _everything_ in my power to save you.” A tear made its way down his cheek. “There was just so much blood. I tried to get you to the hospital as soon as possible. Still. You’re heart stopped beating for a bit.” His voice died out as another tear appeared.

“But I’m here. I made it. Thanks to you.” Louis delicately wiped away the tear as his eyes watched his boyfriend with a softness only meant for him. “I love you so much.” He whispered.

“I love you too.” Harry brought out with watery eyes. He brings his head closer to Louis’ wrist to give it a tiny kiss.

Louis wanted to say something back, but got hold up by a long yawn.

“I’ve tired you out. Haven’t I. You should go back to sleep.” He ordered.

Louis would otherwise definitely protest if he wasn’t as exhausted as he currently was. His stomach was killing him. Not even half a minute later sleep had welcomed him with the sounds of Harry humming his personal lullaby still audible in the background.

 

***

 

“Girls, girls! Give him some space!” His nan shouted as his four sisters were gathered around his bed, all equally excited to tell them about their day and curious if he remembered something about his wolf attack. Harry was still sitting in the same chair, not giving up his space next to Louis for the life of it.

“So I heard that some of your intestines were like even hanging outside of your body. Is that true?”

“Once again, Fizzy. I don’t actually remember what happened. It’s common with trauma’s with a lot of blood loss. So just gp ask a doctor.” Louis’ cheeks turned white as sheets at the image that his sisters’ words brought up.

“Do you like the candy we gave you, Lou?” Lottie came to the rescue. “We’ve got all your favourites as well as some grapes because nan told us we'd have to give something healthy too."

“Yes, of course. You’re all dolls.” Louis smiled gracefully.

“Look! Daisy and I made you an abstract drawing of the whole family! We learnt about that in class!” Phoebe demanded his attention as she pushed a paper in front of his nose. “That’s you!” She pointed to a big blue blob. “And we included Harry.” Daisy shouted while pointing at a green spot next to Louis’ blue.

“Thank you. It’s very pretty. I’ll make sure I’ll show it to all the doctors and nurses.” His sisters preened from pride.

“Okay, girls.” His nan called as she eyed Zayn who was waiting in the doorway. “It’s time to say goodbye. I still have to prepare for tea. We’ll come back to visit tomorrow.”

After lots of hugs and kisses and _I love you’s_ and _see you tomorrow’s_ his siblings eventually vanished from the room.

“Hey.” Zayn said softly from the doorway.

“Hey.” Louis smiled back.

“I’m gonna get something from the cafeteria. They’re probably going to fetch your dinner soon, Louis.” Harry stood up, making his way outside as he understood to give the two lads their privacy. Zayn was Louis’ best friend, not his.

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to stay long. Promised mum, I’d be back for tea.” He said as he took the seat Harry just left.

“That’s okay.” Louis smiled again.

“So wolf attack?” He lifted an eyebrow.

“Yeah.” Louis answered, prolonging his vowels. If he could shrug, he would, but he still couldn’t even breathe without hurting.

“You weren’t at the dance.” He stated.

“I know. I was –“

“Walking in the middle of the woods with Harry?”

“Yeah. We had some things to talk through.” He tried. He knew it didn’t make much sense.

“Apparently there hadn’t been a wolf spotted in this area for over eighty years.”

“Maybe it was a big dog. I don’t really remember much.” His good hand, the one that wasn’t penetrated by a needle that gave him his much needed dose of anaesthesia, was playing with a loose threat of his sheets.

“Look I don’t know what _exactly_ happened. But I do know that a lot of things just don’t add up. I’m not stupid, Lou.”

“I know.” Louis sighed. “I’ll tell you. I _wil._ I promise. Just not here and not now, alright?”

Zayn let out his breath. “Thanks.”

“So…” Louis grinned. “How was the dance with Leeyum?”

“Apart from him fleeing halfway through, it was. Amazing.” He got a dreamy look in his eyes. “And we’ve texted a lot since, so.” He tried to act casual about it, but his facial expression gave him away. That boy had fallen hard.

“Tell me everything.” Louis ordered.

The rest of Zayn’s time there, he explained every little detail of the night to Louis and showed every text they sent, until the alarm of his phone told him it was time to go. Harry was back beside Louis in less than a minute after Zayn had left.

 

***

 

A couple of days later Louis had finally managed to send Harry home for a bit. He promised he’d only be gone for a couple of hours to shower and get some clean clothes, but Louis hoped he’d stay the night to finally get a good night of sleep, because the space underneath his eyes has been a dark purple for much too long.

He’d felt much better already. It didn’t hurt anymore to breathe, even though laughing and coughing were still as painful as getting punched in the stomach. His wound looked much better already, too, but the doctors still wanted him to stay as there had been a mild infection.

His sisters had just left and it was the first time in days that Louis actually got some time by himself. Or well. He got exactly three minutes, until hesitant knocks sounded at the door of his single hospital room.

“Come in.” He called out.

Nick Grimshaw’s huge quiff appeared, before the rest of his body followed. “Is it okay for me to come in?”

“Uhm. Sure.” Louis answered. So that was awkward.

“I’m so, terribly sorry.” Nick brought out as soon as he took a seat next to Louis, biting his lip and overall looking like a kicked puppy. Well that was a new look on him. “I don’t even know why I’m apologising as it would never, ever be enough for what I did. I’ll never be able to forgive myself.”

“It’s okay.” Louis tried to soothe him. Never thought he would ever have to comfort Grimshaw of all people.

“How can you even say that? It’s not! It never will be.” Nick cried out.

“Look.” Louis told him with a soft voice. “I get it, okay. You did what you thought would safe Harry. I would’ve done the same if the tables had been turned. Love isn’t rational. I know what loving Harry does to a person.”

Nick burrows his head in his hands and mumbles something incoherently.

“What did you say?” Louis asked.

“I said.” Nick brought his head up again, his cheeks as red as strawberries and eyes looking everywhere but in Louis’ own. “I’m not in love with Harry?”

“You’re not? But, I thought?” Louis sputtered dumbfounded.

Nick sighed. “Look when I turn into a wolf, I kind of start to think like one, yeah? And yes, my wolf was also trying to my beta. But it was even more bothered by the fact that some creature had been hurting _you_. You turned into a kanima and by my wolf’s logic it could save you by freeing you. From getting you out of it. My instinct took that quite literally as it tried to claw you out of it. And then you changed back a split second before my claws touched you and well.” He looked pointedly at Louis’ chest wound, before watching the floor intendedly again, biting his lip.

“You?” Louis sputtered. His brain blanched.

“I’m in love with you.” Nick sighed, before burying his head in his hands again.

“I– I don’t know what to say.” Louis said dazed. “But, you. You hate me! I don’t get it, you most certainly hate me!”

“I tried to do anything not to make it too clear that I liked you.” Nick said miserably. “And I did some shitty things because of it. Also I was jealous. You and Harry are perfect together. I know that. I’ve never wanted to come between you too. You’ve got to believe me!”

Louis just nodded, not knowing what to answer.

“Don’t worry about it, okay. I’ll be out of your hair soon. I’ll move away, search another pack, and let Harry be the alpha. He’d be so much better at it anyway. Wouldn’t almost kill someone of his own pack.”

“I’m sorry, but you’re talking a lot of shit right now.” Louis pointed out. “Harry wouldn’t be half the alpha you are. Yes, I do think that the sun shines out of his arse, but he just hasn’t the leader capacity that you have. He’s amazing as a beta. And as much as it pains me to say it: you’re amazing as an alpha. If there’s something I’ve learnt the last couple of months is that you would do anything to protect your pack and our town. And he might not be able to say it at the moment, but Haz needs you. He looks up to you so much.”

“I don’t know. I’ve got a pretty big feeling he absolutely hates me at the moment.”

“He’ll turn around. I’ll talk to him. Just don’t make too sudden decisions.” Louis sighed.

“Alright.” Nick nodded. “I’ll be out of your hair now. I can hair Niall in the lift already.”

Just as he wanted to walk out of the door, Louis called him back. “Hey! Maybe we can try to be friends?” He proposed, smiling softly.

“I’d love that.” He said, before disappearing.

 

Not long after that Niall made his way inside, as loud and boisterous as always, carrying a huge bag that withhold two Gameboy Color’s and almost half a dozen of Pokémon games as well as two big bags of Doritos. And Louis didn’t think about wolves, boyfriends or alphas for the rest of the afternoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. What should happen with Edward?

**Author's Note:**

> [ My Tumblr](http://www.theshipofhope.tumblr.com) Please come and chat if you're in need of a new friend :)


End file.
